Count Me Among Thy Saints
by Izumihimechan
Summary: The Saints have been released from prison. Kieran and her friends move to Boston and Kieran and Becky find love with Connor and Murphy. After Kieran is attacked and nearly killed she and her friends realize that they have The Calling and join the Saints
1. Meet the Twins

***** Author's Note: Most of the chapters will start with a quote from the chapter or from one of the Boondock Saints movies. **

"_And shepherds we shall be for thee, my lord, for thee._

_Power hath descended forth from Thy hand_

_Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands._

_So we shall flow a river forth to Thee_

_And teeming with souls shall it ever be._

_In Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti."_

I sighed and fell onto the couch, gazing around the living room at the stacks of unpacked boxes.

"Remind me again why we moved here?" I questioned my best friend Becky as she and my other best friend Mitch came in from the hallway that led to our bedrooms which were, annoyingly, also full of unpacked boxes.

"Because we need to be out on our own." Becky sat down beside me. "We need a chance to have fun and get away from all the family drama. We can't do that in Ohio."

"So we moved to _Boston_?"

"What's wrong with Boston?" Mitch asked.

"Nothing I guess. I just don't get why we moved into this shitty neighborhood."

"'Cause it's a completely Irish neighborhood, that's why," Becky answered. "And we'll fit right in."  
I rolled my eyes. The three of us were Irish that much was true. Although there was some debate as to whether we were _completely _Irish. Aside from the fact that my first name was Gaelic and the three of us could pull off pretty good Irish accents there wasn't much information that would tell us just how Irish we were.

"You mean this is the only place we could afford."  
"Yeah that too."

"C'mon Kieran," Mitch said, sitting down on the arm of the couch and putting his arm around me. "Give it a chance."

"I know what'll cheer you up Midge."

"Who said I was depressed?" I blinked at Becky. "I'm annoyed."

"All the same I know something fun we can do."

"But we've hardly unpacked anything."

"I could use a break," Mitch replied.

"A break from what?" I demanded. "We've hardly done any—"

"Just shut up and get your coat." Becky stood up and walked to the door to our apartment. She crossed her arms and began tapping her foot, looking like an impatient mother.

"Fine whatever," I muttered as I got up and grabbed my coat from the pile we had made on one of our chairs. Mitch grabbed his and threw Becky's to her.

"All right, let's go." Becky opened the door and waved us into the hallway before joining us and locking the door. We followed her out of the building and onto the sidewalk. She looked up and down the street several times before nodding to herself and leading us toward the south end of the street. We reached the corner where we turned left and head up three more blocks and then crossed the street. We stopped in front of a small building. I looked up at the sign on the building and laughed.

"McGinty's Irish Pub? You're taking us drinking?"

"Why not? A bit of drinking always cheers us up."

"I'm in." Mitch turned and grinned at me. "C'mon Kier, you know you want to."

"We're skipping unpacking to get drunk? We could have done that _after_ we—"

"It would have taken us half the night to unpack," Becky interrupted. "And it's never as much fun drinking in at home as it is in a pub." I wanted to argue but I knew she was right. I sighed and nodded in agreement.

"All right." Becky grinned as she held the door to the pub open. "Time to get our Irish on." Mitch and I laughed as we followed her inside. We walked down the small entry hall toward the sounds of loud voices and glasses clinking together. As soon as we walked into the main room the voices stopped. Every guy at the bar turned to look at us.

"I told you we should have stayed home," I hissed at Becky under my breath.

"Well don' jus' stand there all night," an obviously Irish voice called. A man with brown hair leaned away from the bar and smiled at us.

"Aye, come 'ave drink!" another man with an equally Irish voice agreed. A man with dark brown hair leaned around the first man and smiled at us as well. I started to inch back toward the door but Becky grabbed my wrist and dragged me with her as she and Mitch walked over to the bar. We sat down and Becky made sure that I was the one next the guy with the dark brown hair. I scowled at her as she scooted her stool closer to the bar. She knew how shy I was and had purposely made me sit next to the guy so I would have no choice but to talk to him.

"Wha'll it be?" the bartender, an old man with white hair and glasses, asked.

"Whiskey," we replied in unison and then laughed at the old habit of answering questions directed at us at the same time. The old man set three shot glasses on the bar and grabbed a bottle and filled them.

"There yeh go. FUCK! ASS!"

I jumped at the sudden shouted expletives and nearly spilled my whiskey. Luckily I was Irish enough to have been taught how not to spill my alcohol.

"Don' mind 'im lass," the guy next to me said, leaning closer to me. "He's not cursin' at you."

"Good to know," I replied quietly before drinking my shot.

"Don' think I've seen yeh three around 'ere before," the other man said, leaning forward so he could see us.

"Just moved in," Becky answered as she drank her shot.

"Nice ta meet yeh," the guy next to me said. "Name's Murphy." He held out his hand.

"Kieran," I replied, shaking his hand. It was warm and rough.

"Becky." She reached around me to shake Murphy's hand.

"Mitch." He couldn't reach Murphy from where he was so he just settled with giving him a wave. The other man got off his bar stool and came to stand in front of me.

"I'm Connor." He took my hand gave the back of it a quick kiss. His hand was just as warm and rough as Murphy's. I felt my face get warm but I managed to smile at him. He released my hand and did the same thing to Becky before shaking Mitch's hand. Becky looked back and forth between Connor and Murphy.

"You two wouldn't happen to be brothers, would you?"

"Aye," Connor answered. "Twins actually." Becky studied them intently for a minute. Suddenly her eyes widened and she smiled.

"You're the McManus brothers!" Her voice was full of excitement. "You're the Saints of South Boston!" I felt my jaw drop. Connor laughed and ran his hand across the back of his head, ruffling his short hair.

"Aye we are."

"Wha' gave us away?" Murphy had a cigarette clamped in his lips and was leaning away from me so he could light it.

"We've seen your pictures," Mitch answered, finally picking up his glass and drinking his shot. "From when you were on trial."

"Nice going by the way," Becky complimented them. "I can't believe you guys got off after killing forty-five people."

"I can." I grinned at Connor. "How could anyone disagree with what you guys do? Hell I wish _we _could do that."

"Damn Midge," Becky laughed. "I didn't know you thought that way."

"Sure you did," Mitch replied. "You know how her temper is." I leaned around Becky to frown at him but could only hold it for a second before I grinned.

"Midge?" Connor asked. "I thought yeh said yer name was Kieran."

"It is I just call her Midge 'cause she's so short." Becky nudged me with her shoulder. "Show 'em." I sighed and rolled my eyes before hopping off my stool. I landed on my feet just inches away from Connor. I wobbled on my feet as I instinctively leaned away from him. Connor reached out and caught my shoulder, steadying me and pulling me just an inch closer to him. I took a deep breath and breathed in the smell of cigarette smoke, whiskey, and Old Spice deodorant. I only knew that smell because that was the kind of deodorant that Mitch used.

"Careful lass," he said in a soft voice. "Don' want yeh fallin' over." I looked up at him and the thought of how nice it would be to have his arms around me popped into my mind. I shook my head slightly, trying to dislodge the thought but it wouldn't budge. Connor released my shoulder and I took a step away from him.

"Aye," Murphy's voice came from just behind me. "I see yer point. How tall are yeh exactly?"

"5'2''," I replied, turning slightly to look over my shoulder at him. Murphy put his arm on top of my head and leaned on me like I was table or something.

"Yeh certainly are a wee lass aren't yeh?"

"Shut it," I snapped as I ducked out from under his arm. I looked up at both of them, trying to assess their heights compared to mine which wasn't too difficult if I figured Mitch's height into the equation. Mitch was 5'8'' and when I stood directly in front of him, the way I had been standing with Connor, I came up to the middle of his chest. Or if I measured it with us standing side by side I came up to about the middle of Mitch's shoulder. I studied the two of them again and figured that Murphy was about an inch shorter than Connor and about two inches taller than Mitch. So that made Murphy 5'10'' and Connor 5'11''.

"You guys are what? 5'10'' and 5'11''?" I asked looking first at Murphy and then at Connor. The two of them blinked at me.

"Aye," Murphy replied slowly. "Nice guess." I nodded and grinned.

"I could take ya."

"Take us? Yeh mean in a fight? Not fuckin' likely!"

"Wanna bet?" I smirked at him but before Murphy could answer Connor stepped between us and pushed us apart.

"Now tha's no way ta behave. Sit down an' 'ave another drink." He gave Murphy a shove back towards the bar. "Why don' yeh sit wit' me?" He grabbed a stool someone had just vacated and sat down, gesturing for me to sit on the one between him and Murphy. I hesitated for a second, glancing nervously at Becky. She grinned at nodded and I grinned back as Mitch rolled his eyes. This five seconds worth of nodding and such amounted to a short conversation for the three of us that went something like this:

Becky: _See something you like?_

Me: _Maybe. We'll see._

Mitch: _Oh boy. _

I walked back to the bar and sat down between the brothers. Becky scooted over to sit on the stool I had been sitting on before and Mitch moved over to take the one Becky had been sitting on. Becky passed me my shot glass as Mitch passed hers to her.

"Doc!" Murphy called. "How about some more whiskey fer our new friends?" Doc came back to our end of the bar and refilled our glasses before giving Murphy and Connor each a glass.

"You wouldn't be trying to get us drunk now would you?" Becky questioned, leaning closer to Murphy. I could tell by the smile she was giving him that she had taken a liking to him.

"Maybe." Murphy grinned back at her. "Wha' if we are?"

"Then you may just get what you want." Her grin widened. "We came ta get our Irish on." Her voice suddenly took on an Irish accent as she easily imitated the way the two of them spoke.

"Jesus," Murphy replied. "I din' know yeh could do tha'!"

"There's quite a bit yeh don' know about us Murphy McManus," I teased moving from my usual American accent to and Irish one just as easily as Becky had.

"Aye," Mitch agreed, adopting an Irish accent as well. "You'll 'ave quite the time tryin' ta figure us out."

"Sounds fun." Connor laughed. "Let's get started then, shall we?" My friends and I exchanged glances grinning devilishly at each other and then at the twins.

"Aye," we agreed in unison. "Let's see what'cha can do."

The five of us raised our glasses and then threw back the shots.


	2. Murphy Got What He Wanted

_Connor: "A penny saved is worth two in the bush, isn' it?"_

_Murphy: "An' don't cross the road if you can' get out of the kitchen."_

"Oh fuck," I muttered as I put my head down on the bar.

"Need another shot?" Murphy asked. I could tell he was grinning just by the sound of his voice.

"Fuck no."

"Ah c'mon," Connor coaxed. "Jus' one more?"

"Fuck both of you. If I drink anymore I'm gonna vomit."

"Bullshit," Becky argued, leaning around Murphy to look at me. "You've never thrown up when you're drunk before."

"Well there's a first time for everything," I snapped, raising my head just enough to glare at her.

"How many beers have we had?" Mitch asked as he studied his beer glass.

"Four each," I answered as I ticked them off in my head. "And like—seven or eight shots. Give or take about—three."" Connor clapped me on the shoulder and gave me a little shake.

"Well then there's plenty'a room fer more! Doc! Give us another round o' beer!"

"Fuck Connor, I said no," I groaned as I sat up. "Are you _trying _to make me ill?"

"I know what he's trying to do," Becky teased. "And it sure as hell has _nothing _to do with you being ill."

"How dare yeh insinuate such a thing!" Connor tried to look all offended but the grin that was slowly creeping its way across his lips completely ruined his attempt. "Jus' because I want ta buy 'er another drink has absolutely nothin' ta do with what yer thinkin'!"

"The hell it doesn't," I replied.

"Well I'm buyin' Becky another drink as well," Murphy pointed out. "An' I'm doin' it ta be a gentleman."

"Bullshit," Becky and I said together.

"Wha' are you two goin' on about?" Doc demanded looking back and forth between Connor and Murphy. "The two o' you know damn well I don' make yeh pay fer anythin'!"

"Well we will," Mitch said as he stared at the foam in his glass as Doc refilled it.

"Nah tha's all right. You three are n—n—n—new here and the boys seem ta 'ave taken a likin' ta ya so yer not payin' fer anythin' either."

"Thanks Doc," we replied as we managed to sit up and take a drink from our glasses.

"Don' mention it. FUCK! ASS!"

Becky and I started giggling uncontrollably at this point.

"Wha're they laughin' at?" Murphy asked.

"I don' quite know," Connor replied as the two of them watched us with quizzical expressions on their faces.

"Yeah they do that when they're drunk," Mitch informed them. "Especially when they're together." Becky and I calmed ourselves down and took another drink of our beer.

"Yeh all right now?" Connor asked.

"Aye," I replied, still managing to imitate his accent. "Right as rain."

"You three are quite the drinkers, aren't yeh?" Murphy asked.

"You bet your ass we are," Becky answered as she chugged the rest of her beer. "Told yeh we came to get our Irish on." Connor laughed and drank his beer.

"Need 'elp finishing tha' Kier?" He nodded toward my beer which was only half gone. A tingle went down my spine when he called me by the nickname.

"I can do it just fine on my own thank you very much." I swatted at his hand until he stopped trying to reach for my glass. I grabbed it and drank the rest of my beer just as Mitch and Murphy were finishing theirs.

"I think we should head back," Mitch suggested turning slowly on his bar stool as if he were going to get up but he ended up just going in a circle.

"Home sounds nice," I sighed. "I'm ready for bed."

"Me too," Becky agreed. We turned and hopped off our bar stools only to lose our balance. We would have fallen over but Connor and Murphy jumped up and caught us by the shoulders.

"Watch it there darlin'," Connor said in the same soft voice he had used when I nearly lost my balance earlier in the evening.

"Aye, don' want'cha hurtin' yerselves," Murphy added as he steadied Becky. "Why don' we walk yeh home?"

"We'll be okay," I replied as Connor let go of me.

"Yeah," Becky agreed. "We can take care of ourselves."

"We're not _that _drunk." Mitch came over to us and handed us our coats. Becky and I had to suppress our giggles at the way the three of us finished each other's sentences. We'd been doing it for as long as we could remember but for some reason when we got drunk the two of us found it hilarious.

"All the same I'd feel better if we walked yeh home," Connor replied as he grabbed his own coat. "Yer not exactly in the safest part o' town."

"All right fine," I mumbled. All the booze in my system was making me tired and therefore much less likely to argue, especially with Connor if he kept using that quite voice with me. I started toward the door but the room shifted sideways and I stumbled.

"All right lass enough'a tha'." Connor caught me by the arm and pulled me back to my feet before putting his arm around me to hold me up. "Keep tha' up an' I might jus' 'ave ta end up carryin' yeh."

"Ha ha very funny." We started walking out to the entry hall.

"He's not jokin'," Murphy said as he and Becky followed us. "You two 'ave the shittiest balance I've ever seen."

"Well Murphy you wanted to get us drunk," Becky pointed out. "You got what you wanted."

"Guess you didn't figure us leaving into the equation, didja?" Mitch asked as he followed behind them.

"Don' think we're goin' ta be carryin' _you_." Murphy laughed.

"Don't think I'm gonna be needing it."

We walked out of the bar and as soon as the cool air hit my face I felt slightly more awake.

"You can let go of me now."

"Not a chance. I'm not about ta let yeh fall and bust up tha' pretty face o' yers."

Even with Connor holding me up I nearly tripped when he said that.

"You—you think I'm pretty?"

"Course I do. 'Aven't yeh ever been called pretty before? Mitchell don' yeh ever tell Kieran tha' she's pretty?"  
"All the time. Every time she asks."

"Well yeah but he's one of my best friends," I argued. "I mean, we've know each other since we were _babies_ he _has _to tell me I'm pretty."

"No I don't."

"Well fine then. I see how it is!"

"Hey I said I didn't _have _to tellyou that you're pretty. I never said that you I thought you weren't."

"An' yeh are so I'm not about ta let yeh fall and hurt yerself."

"Okay okay." I pretended to be annoyed but I was really insanely happy that Connor thought I was pretty. Becky gave the brothers directions back to our apartment which was good because my head was spinning too much for me to remember the way.

"What floor do yeh live on?" Murphy asked as we stumbled into the building and clustered in front of the elevator.

"The third," Becky replied before yawning loudly. Connor hit the up button and we crowded into the elevator. He hit the button with the number three on it and the elevator jerked before starting to go up. I wrapped my arms around Connor and clung to him, afraid that the jerking from the elevator was going to knock me off my feet. Connor laughed quietly and wrapped both his arms around me.

"Don' worry," he said, leaning down so he could talk quietly in my ear. "I'm not goin' ta let yeh fall." I giggled nervously and relaxed my grip but as soon as the elevator jerked to a stop I clung to him again. Connor laughed and helped me off the elevator. Becky, who was being held up by Murphy, led us to the door to our apartment and unlocked the door.

"G'night boys," she said although she was looking mostly at Murphy.

"'Night." Murphy smiled at her and released her so that she could walk into the apartment.

"Will yeh be at the pub tomorrow?" Connor questioned as he maneuvered me over to the door and only let go of me once I was leaning on the doorjamb, mirroring how Becky was leaning on the opposite side of it.

"Sure I suppose." I looked over at Becky and then back at Mitch who had gotten inside before me and was sitting on the couch.

"I don't see why we wouldn't," Becky said.

"Agreed," Mitch added. "Unless we die from hangovers."

"We're not going to die." I rolled my eyes. "I never have hangovers anyways."

"Lucky."

"Damn straight I am."

"Well we'll see yeh tomorrow then." Connor broke up the argument, a grin on his face. "How's nine sound?"

"Sounds fine," Becky replied.

"Aye," Mitch and I replied in unison.

"Nine it is then." Murphy grinned at us before clapping his brother on the shoulder. "C'mon Connor let's go."

"Aye, I'm comin'."

They both grinned at Becky and I one last time before heading back down the hall. Becky and I watched them for a minute before stepping back into the apartment and shutting the door.

"Well that was fun."

I grinned at her.

"You like him, don't you?"

"Hell yes I do. And what about you? Does Connor pass the test?"

"With flying colors."

"Guys, I hate to break up the girl talk but I think I'm gonna pass out."

Becky and I turned to Mitch and sighed.

"You'll be fine," Becky replied.

"Just go to bed." I finished. I looked around the room and made a face at all the unpacked boxes. "I guess we'll unpack tomorrow."


	3. Bar Fight

_Connor: "Stay away! He can take care of himself!"_

In the two weeks that followed our move to Boston we spent our nights in the pub with Connor and Murphy and our days making the apartment feel like home and looking for work. Finally, after several days of searching Becky and I got jobs in a book store and Mitch got a job working with computers at Best Buy.

Once again my friends and I were at McGinty's sitting at the bar, Becky and I sitting between Connor and Murphy, and Mitch sitting beside Connor. We each had a glass of Guinness in front of us, our fourth of the night.

"So where do you guys live?" Becky asked as she took a drink of her beer.

"We live here," Murphy answered. "Above the bar. Doc's got an apartment up there tha' 'e doesn' use an' 'e said we could use it. It's better than the shit hole we was livin' in before."

"You should let us see it sometime."

"Maybe we will."

I turned to Connor and looked down at his hand. I noticed a tattoo on his left hand running along the outside of his pointer finger.

"What's that?" I picked up his hand, a bold move for me, and examined the blue letters on his hand.

"Oh, jus' a tattoo."

"Just a tattoo?" I raised an eyebrow. "Connor, some random Chinese kanji is _just _a tattoo. You've got the Latin word for 'truth' on your hand. That's more than _just _tattoo."

"Murphy's got one too." Becky grabbed Murphy's right hand and yanked it down the bar to show me. "His says 'justice'."

"So what's with the ink?" Mitch asked.

Connor chuckled nervously.

"Jus' somethin' we got when we were kids. Wha' about you? Yeh got any tattoos?"

"Sure we do." I rolled my sleeve up past my right shoulder. "See?" On my shoulder was the design of the Celtic symbol, the Triquetra. The three interconnected triangles were colored dark green and the circle that was woven through the points of the triangles was colored silver.

"'Ave you two got tattoos as well?" Murphy asked. Mitch and Becky nodded before rolling up their sleeves past their right shoulders and revealing the matching Tirquetras on their shoulders. Mitch's was dark blue with a silver circle and Becky's was dark purple with a silver circle.

"Nice." Connor nodded his approval. "Wha'da they mean?"

"Dude," Becky said as she unrolled her sleeve. "You're Irish and you don't know what the _Triquetra _means?"

"A'course I know tha'!" Connor rolled his eyes. "I mean, wha'da they mean ta the three of yeh?"

"They stand for the three of us," I explained. "We were born within months of each other. Our families have been close for a long time and we were raised together, we're family. The three of us have been inseparable our entire lives so when we decided to get tattoos we decided to get something that represented our bond."

"Tha's a good reason ta get tha' symbol."

"All right, I told you about ours now _you _tell me about yours and Murphy's."

Connor shifted in his seat, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

"They're jus'—jus' some words is all."

"It's wha' we believe in," Murphy spoke up, causing Connor to nod and relax.

"Aye, tha's it."

"Huh." I nodded and took a hold of his hand so I could study the word again. "You didn't get those because of what the two of you do, did you?"

"Wha're ya talkin' about?"

"Ya know, killing mob guys and stuff."

Connor shook his head.

"We've 'ad these fer years. Long before we came 'ere."

"Just thought I'd ask. Ya got any more?"

Connor and Murphy rolled up their sleeves and showed us the Celtic crosses on their forearms. Connor's was on his left arm and Murphy's was on his right. Then they showed us the Virgin Mary tattoos on the left side on their necks.

"Nice." Becky smiled and leaned closer to Murphy to examine the tattoo on his neck while I leaned closer to Connor to examine the cross on his arm.

"I like this one the best," I decided as I traced the letters on his hand. "That's a good thing to believe in. As long as you follow it as well. It's not fair to expect other people to be truthful with you if you're not truthful with them."

"I agree." Connor put his other hand on top of mine and I looked up at him. We smiled at each other and I studied the color of his eyes. They were blue but not as bright a blue as Murphy's. Being one of the few people with brown eyes in my family I had spent years studying the different shades of blue that a person's eyes could be. Mitch, for example, had eyes that were a blue that was just a bit brighter than Murphy's. His eyes were a bright pale blue while Mitch's were a bright silvery blue. Connor, on the other hand, had medium blue eyes, the color of the ocean when you reach the point where the sand falls away and stops making it that turquoise color.

"Wha're ya lookin' at darlin'?"

I blushed at the pet name and at being caught at what I was doing.

"Nothin'," I mumbled, quickly looking away from him. Connor put his hand under my chin and tilted my head back to make me look at him.

"Tell me wha'cha were lookin' at." The way he was looking at me, the slight tilt of his head, the small smirk on his face, and the slightly raised eyebrow, made it impossible to resist telling him anything he wanted to know. I sighed and shifted my eyes away from him, my face getting hot with embarrassment.

"I was looking at your eyes," I said in a rush. "That's all."

"Wha' for?"

"'Cause I like the color."

Connor smiled and moved his hand so that it was caressing my cheek. I felt my face get three times warmer.

"Well I like the color o' yer eyes too. They're such a pretty dark brown. An' I like the gold streaks tha' they get when the light hits 'em jus' right."

I smiled and tilted my head into his hand, liking the feeling of his palm against my cheek. Beside me, Murphy had slung an arm around Becky's shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

"Well I like the color o' Becky's eyes. They're like blue smoke. It's all mysterious an' shit."

"Well put." Connor nodded and then grinned.

"Aye, I thought so."

"Well thanks." Becky leaned against him, looking perfectly comfortable. "Ya hear that guys? I'm mysterious."

"Yeah we knew that." I grinned at her. Connor lazily draped his arm around my shoulders and slowly pulled me against his chest. Normally, I would have protested at least a little just out of shyness but as soon as Connor had me situated against his chest I realized how warm he was, how soft the old thin brown sweater he was wearing was. I could feel his chest muscles through his sweater. I knew that if he took his shirt off his chest and abs would be nicely defined but not overly buff like some guys.

I smiled at the image of his standing in front of me in just his jeans and unconsciously leaned my head back to rest on his shoulder. Doc came over to refill our beers and smiled at us.

"Well don' the four o' ya look c—c—cute."

"We got ourselves some fine girls, wouldn' ya say, Doc?" Connor questioned.

"Aye, damn fine I'd say. FUCK! ASS!"

"Why thanks Doc," Becky replied.

"Welcome."

Mitch started talking to the twins about where they worked and Becky and I listened quietly, content with just leaning against Connor and Murphy. As it turned out they both worked at a meat packing plant during the day and they jokingly told Mitch that the three of us could come and join them if we wanted. But Mitch was happy surrounding himself with computers just as Becky and I were happy surrounding ourselves with books.

By about one o'clock in the morning the bar had pretty much emptied out except for the five of us and six or seven other guys who were regulars and friends with Connor and Murphy and worked at the plant with them. Just as the five of us had finished our eighth beer the door to the pub opened and three tall, burly Russians walked in. A hush fell over the room and everyone turned to look at them.

"Well wha's this then?" Connor asked.

"I am Anton Petrov. You will tell us where the Saints are and we will not hurt you."

"The Saints?" Murphy asked. "Yeh mean those handsome fellas who've been offing you and yer scumbag friends?" Everyone at the bar started to snicker.

"Don't fuck with me Irishman," Anton growled. "Now where are they?"

"Don' know." Murphy shrugged and leaned back against the bar, keeping an arm around Becky. Anton turned his attention to me and Connor.

"You there." He pointed at me. "Where are the Saints?" I felt the color drain from my face and my mouth went dry with nervousness.

"I—I don't know," I stammered as Connor's arm tightened around my shoulders. "I just moved here."

"Yeh can see they're not 'ere can' ya?" Connor asked. "Why don' yeh jus' come 'ave a drink with us?" He held out a glass of beer but Anton's face darkened with rage. He smacked the beer from Connor's hand and it fell to the floor with a crash. A guy next to Connor got up and started toward the Russians but one of Anton's lackeys punched the guy in the face, sending him reeling back against the bar. Connor and Murphy stood up and faced the Russians.

"Now tha' wasn' too polite, was it?" Connor spat in Russian.

"You ought ta play nice or we might 'ave ta teach yeh a lesson," Murphy snarled, speaking in Russian as well.

"You fuckers are gonna get it now," Becky sneered in Russian that was just as fluent as the brothers'. Anton looked perplexed that the three of them spoke his native language but the look only lasted for a minute.

"What the fuck did you just say to me you little bitch?" Anton started toward Becky but Murphy put himself between them.

"Jus' where'dya think yer goin'? Yeh fuckin' apologize ta her right now."

"Fuck you."

Murphy looked over at his twin and Connor nodded slightly. Together they tackled Anton which started a brawl between the Russians and nearly every guy in the pub. Mitch Becky and I stood by the bar watching for a minute before Mitch and Becky shrugged at each other and jumped into the fray. I was more reluctant to join in. I knew I didn't stand much of a chance against the Russians and I stood a greater chance of accidentally getting hurt by one of the guys from the bar than of doing any damage.

Murphy got knocked against a wall but when Becky started toward him to get the Russian that was trying to pin him there Connor grabbed her and held her back. He shook his head and even though I couldn't hear him over the noise of the brawl it looked like he said "He's fine". Murphy drove his elbow down onto the guy's shoulder and then brought his knee up into the guy's stomach. The Russian fell to the floor and only then did Connor let go of Becky. She went over to Murphy and gave the Russian a few good kicks in the ribs. I decided then that I was going to join the fight after all. Just as I started over to Connor, Anton stepped in front of me.

"And where are you going?" he questioned.

"Stay the fuck away from me," I warned. Anton laughed and moved closer to me.

"You think you can beat me little girl? I don't think so." He reached out and touched my hair, laughing. I felt my temper flare, the Irish in me overtaking my urge to recoil from his disgusting touch. All I wanted to do now was make him wish he had never laid a hand on me. I brought my leg up and gave him a hard kick to the nuts. His face twisted in pain and he doubled over as I smirked at him. That would teach him.

"You bitch!" He backhanded me across the face hard enough to send me to the floor. I yelped in pain and cringed away from him as he moved forward to hit me again.

"Kieran!" Connor shouted. "You fuckin' bastard don' you touch her!" He tackled Anton, punching him repeatedly as they fell to the floor in front of me. Becky, Mitch, and Murphy ran over to me and Becky pulled me to my feet.

"You okay, Kier?" Mitch asked as he looked me over. I ran my hand across my lip which hurt like hell and saw from the blood that smeared across my hand that my lip had split open.

"Yeah I think so. The fucker just split my lip." I turned and started kicking Anton as hard as I could. "You asshole!" After a minute of this Connor stopped punching and I managed to stop kicking even though I would have loved to have kept going. The room got very quiet. For a minute the only sound in the room was the sound of Connor and me, breathing heavily. Connor slowly got to his feet and turned to me.

"Yeh all righ'?" He walked up to me and put his hand against my cheek, pushing my hair out of my face.

"Yeah," I replied, panting slightly. "I'm okay." Connor and I looked at each other for a minute before he wrapped his arm around me and pulled me against him. He leaned down and kissed me, it was soft like he was trying to not scare me by being too passionate. I wrapped my arm around his neck and kissed him back. I didn't care that my lip was stinging or that a new throbbing pain was starting to move down the left side of my face. I didn't care about anything but kissing Connor.

"All righ' then," Murphy's voice said from behind me. "It's about damn time. C'mere Becky." I heard Becky squeal happily and knew that Murphy had grabbed her and was probably kissing her the same way Connor was kissing me. The others in the bar started to cheer and clap. Connor and I pulled apart and I smiled up at him.

"Thanks," I said softly. "For kicking his ass."

"Any time darlin'." He touched my cheek again and I reached up and put my hand over his, keeping it there. Connor smiled and kissed me again.


	4. Attacked

**Author's Note: From now on any event that is separated from another by any length of time will be marked with a line.**

_Priest: "We must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men!"_

"Connor you seriously need to chill out. I'm like, three blocks away from the pub," I snapped into my cell phone. "I'll be there in like five minutes." It had been six months since my friends and I had moved to Boston and I was now quite comfortable walking around on my own.

"I don' need ta "chill out"," Connor snapped back. "Yeh shouldn' be out by yerself! Yeh should 'ave asked one of us ta pick yeh up!"

"Tell 'er she's in trouble when she gets 'ere!" Murphy's voice shouted in the background.

"Yeah and you tell Murphy I'll kick his ass when I get there," I replied.

"Hey Murph, she says she goin' ta kick yer ass."

"The hell she is!"

"Okay this conversation is fun and all but I'm gonna go now. I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Now wait a minute Little Missy—!" Connor shouted as I hung up. I returned my cell phone to the pocket of my jeans and continued down the street. I glanced behind me and then from my left to my right. Connor was right about the whole not walking alone this late at night. This neighborhood wasn't exactly known for being safe. I picked up my pace, hurrying across the gap a street created between one block and the next. Just two more blocks to go. I glanced around again and when I looked ahead of me again I saw a man coming towards me, his head down, his hands shoved in the pockets of his jacket. I continued towards him, keeping an eye on him with my peripheral vision. He walked past me and I let out my breath which I had been holding without realizing it. But then I felt it, the barrel of a gun settling against my back. I froze and started to turn around.

"Don't move," the man's voice hissed in my ear. "Or I'll kill you." I nodded and remained perfectly still. The man grabbed me by the arm and dragged me backwards into an alley. Once we were out of sight of the street he threw me to the ground.

"What—what're you going to do?" I stammered. He grinned like a wolf and leaned toward me.

"Whatever the hell I want," he sneered. I shrank back against the wall of the building that formed one half of the alley.

"Why?"

"Because these so-called "Saints" have every criminal in Boston scared shitless. But they don't scare me. They can't kill me if they don't know who I am!" He laughed and kicked me in the face. His foot connected with my jaw and my head snapped back, hitting the wall behind me. I screamed in pain and crumpled to the ground. Blood started running from my mouth. I spit blood onto the ground and tried to get to my feet.

"You _should _be scared of the Saints," I said as I used the wall to pull myself up. "They _will _find you and when they do, you're gonna be sorry."

"I doubt that." He punched me in the stomach and I doubled over, coughing and spitting more blood.

"_Help_!" I screamed. "Someone please! Please help me!"

He laughed again.

"Girl no one in _this _neighborhood is going to help you! No one wants to get involved."

Tears began streaming down my face.

"_Connor_!" I screamed as the man resumed beating me. "Connor help me! Someone! Someone please! Please help me!" But the man was right, it was useless. No one in the neighborhood would get involved and Connor and Murphy were too far away to hear me. After the man had stomped on my side repeatedly I felt at least two of my ribs on my right side crack. I screamed and curled into a ball. The man grabbed me and forced me to stand. He cocked his gun and pointed it at me. I shut my eyes and sobbed as I waited for him to kill me. There was a loud bang as his gun went off and a white hot pain ripped through my right shoulder. My eyes snapped open and I crumpled to the ground. The man crouched down, leaning over me, and smirked.

"Let's see them catch me," he sneered before standing up and walking away. I remained on the ground trying to breathe past the overwhelming pain in my shoulder as well as the rest of me. With every breath it felt as though hot knives were being driven into my shoulder and ribs. I knew I had to make myself get up and get to the pub before I passed out. After taking several breaths to ready myself for the pain I knew was coming I used my left arm to push myself into a sitting position.

"_Son of bitch_!" I screamed as the pain intensified. "_Fuck_!" I had to stop and lean back against the wall to stop myself from vomiting. After another minute I managed to pull myself together enough to get to my feet. Using the wall I was able to work my way out of the alley and back onto the sidewalk. Then, using the sides of buildings for support I stumbled my way towards McGinty's. It felt like it took me over an hour to reach the pub but I finally reached the door and stumbled inside. I could hear Doc, Murphy, and Connor laughing in the main room a few feet down the small entry hall. I grabbed onto the door jamb to keep myself from falling over.

"I wonder wha's keeping Kieran," Connor's voice said. "It's been at least 'alf an hour since I talked ta her."

"Maybe she stopped somewhere an' got sidetracked," Murphy suggested. "Yeh know how tha' girl is."

"All the same I think I ought ta call 'er."

I gritted my teeth and pushed away from the door before Connor could call me. I stumbled into the main room and leaned on the door jamb.

"Connor..." I whimpered as I fell forward onto the floor.

"Oh Jesus!" Murphy shouted.

"_Kieran_!" Connor yelled. They scrambled off their bar stools and rushed over to me.

"G—G—G—God in Heaven," Doc stammered. Connor knelt beside me and pulled me into his arms.

"Kieran," he said as he smoothed my hair out of my face before pressing down on my shoulder to slow the bleeding. "Oh God Kieran wha' 'appened ta yeh?"

"Doc," Murphy said turning back to the bartender. "Call an ambulance, quick!" Doc nodded and hurried over to the cordless phone he kept under the counter. Murphy turned back to Connor and me.

"Kieran tell us wha' 'appened," he said. I coughed and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes.

"I was walking here," I began. "I was only two blocks away and I saw this guy coming towards me but he looked like he had somewhere to be 'cause he wasn't looking at me or anything but I kept an eye on him anyway. He walked past me and then all of sudden he was behind me and he had a gun to my back. He dragged me into an alley and..." My voice trailed off as tears began streaming down my cheeks. I felt Connor wipe my tears away but more simply fell to replace them.

"C'mon love," he urged. "Tell us wha' 'appened." I took a deep breath and continued.

"And he said he was going to do whatever the hell he wanted to me because he wasn't afraid of you guys. He said you wouldn't be able to come after him if you didn't know who he was. Then he—he started hitting me and I screamed for help but no one came. He thought it was funny because everyone knows that no one in this neighborhood will get involved. Then he made me stand up and he shot me." I turned my face toward Connor's chest and began to cry into his shirt. His arms tightened around me.

Soon we heard the wail of sirens as the ambulance neared the bar.

"They're almost 'ere," Murphy said. "We should call Duffy an' Dolly an' let 'em know wha's 'appened."

"No," Connor replied. "Not now. She can' 'andle 'em questionin' 'er right now. Yeh'd better call Becky and Mitch though. They should know wha's 'appened. They can meet us at the hospital." Murphy nodded and walked back to the bar to get his cell phone. I opened my eyes and looked up at Connor.

"I'm sorry," I whimpered. "I should have listened to you. I should have asked one of you guys to come pick me up."

"Yeh hush now. Yeh've got nothin' ta be sorry fer. This wasn' yer fault."

The sirens became very loud as the ambulance stopped outside the bar and then stopped altogether. Two paramedics came into the room, pulling a stretcher between them.

"What happened?" one of them asked as he crouched beside me and shined a light in my eyes.

"Some bastard beat 'er an' shot 'er," Connor snarled as the paramedic started checking my vitals.

"Is she goin' ta be alright?" Murphy asked, coming back over and crouching beside Connor.

"The sooner we get her to the hospital the better," the paramedic replied. "Alright Steve, she's stable, come and help me get her on the stretcher." Steve came over and helped the first paramedic lift me onto the stretcher. I let out a weak cry of pain as they started putting an oxygen mask on my face and inserting an IV into my arm.

"Can—Can we ride with 'er?" Connor asked as he ran his hand through his hair, smearing blood across the back of his head but obviously not caring. Steve nodded and they began wheeling me to the back of the ambulance.

"Doc, yeh comin' with us?" Murphy asked.

"I'll m—m—m—meet yeh boys there. I gotta close up. FUCK! ASS!"

Murphy nodded and followed Connor out of the bar.

"Yeh called the other two right?" Connor asked as he climbed into back of the ambulance.

"Aye. Told 'em ta meet us at the hospital. Becky sounded pretty worried." He hauled himself into the ambulance and Steve shut the door.

"Course she is," Connor replied. "An' Mitch?"

"Didn' hear much from 'im before Becky hung up but he sounded pissed."

Connor nodded and turned to the first paramedic who had stayed in the back to look after me while Steve drove.

"How's she doin'?"

"She's doing fine for now. I'm about to give her some pain killers."

"Con—Connor," I gasped, grabbing his arm. "I—I can't..."  
"Oh, right. She can' be havin' any morphine. She's allergic so it's got ta be somethin' else."

"Is demoral ok?"

I nodded weakly and he injected the pain killer into my IV. Very soon after that my eyes got heavy and I blacked out.

* * *

When they reached the hospital the paramedics took me away and Connor and Murphy were told to sit in the waiting room.

"Can' I come with 'er?" Connor asked, looking worriedly after the stretcher as they wheeled me down to the operating room.

"No sir, I'm afraid you can't. Now please go sit down," the nurse replied. Connor started to argue but Murphy came over and pulled him into the waiting room.

"Nothin'll be solved by arguin' with the nurse. Now sit down an' take a deep breath. Yeh'll need ta be calm fer when Becky an' Mitch get 'ere."

"Easy fer you ta say," Connor muttered as he sank into a chair. "It's not yer girlfriend tha's been shot an' beat all ta hell."

"Everythin'll be fine." Murphy put his hand on Connor's shoulder and gave it a little shake. "Now jus' breathe."

Connor nodded, put his head in his hands, and shut his eyes. Thoughts of just what he was going to do when he found the mother fucker who did this swirled around his head. All he could see behind his eyelids was my pale, tear-streaked face. He clenched his fists, gripping his hair and pulling it slightly. His anger was ready to boil over. But then he felt Murphy put his hand on the back of his neck and then just like that the anger drained out of him.

'_Murph is right,' _he thought as he slowly released his grip on his hair. '_I've got ta calm meself down.'_ He took several deep breaths and only when they started catching in his throat did he realize that he was crying. Not very much but he could feel the tears welling up behind his eyelids. He shut his eyes tightly and slowly lowered his hands. The tears slowly slid down his cheeks.

"Oh Jesus," he said softly, quickly wiping away the tears. "Oh Jesus don' take 'er from me."

"Connor!" Becky's voice cried. He and Murphy got to their feet as she and Mitch hurried into the waiting room followed by Doc.

"Becky," Murphy called. "Mitch, over here." Becky and Mitch turned and saw the brothers.

"What the hell happened?" Becky demanded as she, Mitch, and Doc hurried over to them.

"She was attacked," Connor replied.

"_Attacked_?" Becky questioned. "What'd you mean _attacked_?"

"She was walkin' ta the bar an' this guy grabbed her. He dragged her inta an alley, beat 'er an' then shot 'er."

Becky smacked Connor as hard as she could on the back of his head.

"What the fuck was she doing walking to the bar by herself? Why weren't you with her?"

"Becky calm down—" Murphy began.

"And _you_!" she snarled, rounding on Murphy and smacking him as well. "Why weren't _you _with her? _One _of you should have been with her! What is _wrong with you two_?"

"N—N—Now Becky," Doc chided. "Give the b—b—b—boys a break. It's not their fault." Becky took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"I'm sorry," she said, walking over to Murphy and hugging him. "I didn't hurt you guys did I?"

Murphy scoffed.

"Yeah right." he laughed. Conner shook his head and sat back down.

"Where was she shot?" Mitch asked, speaking for the first time.

"In 'er right shoulder." Connor stared at his hands as he answered. "She's in surgery now." The others sat down and Murphy put his hand back on his brother's shoulder.

"She'll be fine," Mitch said as he sat back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

"How'd yeh know tha'?" Connor asked.

"I just know." Mitch shrugged. Connor sighed and leaned his head back against the wall.

_'I 'ave ta believe tha' too. She'll be fine.'_ He sighed again and shut his eyes.

* * *

"Connor," Murphy's voice called. "Connor wake up." Connor could feel his brother shaking him and he opened his eyes, blinking several times as they adjusted to the light of the waiting room.

"Wha'?" he asked groggily.

"The doctor's comin' over."

Connor sat up and hurriedly wiped the sleep from his eyes as a man approached them.

"Mr. McManus?" the doctor asked.

"Aye." Connor and the others got to their feet.

"Miss Turner's surgery went well. We were able to remove the bullet. She's resting now."

"Can we see 'er?" Murphy asked. The doctor nodded and motioned for them to follow him. He led them down several hallways and then stopped outside a private room.

"She had a large gash on the back of her head," the doctor explained. "Several of the ribs on her right side were broken, there was some internal bleeding, and she has bruising all over her body. Luckily the bullet didn't do any damage to her shoulder bone."

"Thank you sir," Murphy replied.

"Feel free to stay as long as you'd like. If you need me let one of the nurses know and they'll find me."

"We will. Thank you."

The doctor nodded and walked away. Connor and the others walked into my room and Becky immediately hurried over to the chair beside my bed. She sat down slowly, her hand pressed to her mouth.

"Oh my God," she whispered. "She looks—she looks _dead_."

"It's from the surgery," Murphy replied, sitting down beside her. "It's because she looks so pale."

"I know that but that doesn't change the fact that she looks dead." Becky put her head in her hands and started to cry. Murphy wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in his shoulder. Connor clenched his fists and with a snarl of rage he slammed his fists against the wall.

"_Son of bitch_!" He shouted. "When I find the guy who did this I'm goin' ta—" He slammed his fists against the wall several more times.

"Connor that's enough," Mitch said at last, grabbing Connor by the arms and dragging him away from the wall. "You're gonna get us kicked out." Connor yanked his arms out of Mitch's grasp.

"Don' tell me wha' ta do," he snapped. He stormed over to a chair on the other side of my bed and sat down.

"He has a p—p—p—p—point," Doc said from his seat on a small couch behind Becky and Murphy. "Yeh haffta calm down. FUCK! ASS!" Mitch nodded in agreement and sat down in the chair beside Connor's.

"She'll be okay. She's going to wake up soon and she'll tell us who did this and_ then _we can go kill the son of a bitch."

* * *

The five of them sat with me for days, going home in shifts so that someone would always be with me. Every hour a nurse came to check on me but I never opened my eyes. Connor became so agitated when he was in the room that he couldn't sit still for long. He paced back and forth across the room clenching and unclenching his fists, always seeming to be on the verge of hitting the wall again. After the first hour or so Becky had stopped crying and now whenever she was in the room she just sat staring blankly at me while Murphy massaged her shoulder and kept an eye on Connor at the same time. Doc would come in after he closed the bar and would eventually fell asleep on the couch. Mitch stayed in his chair, watching me in a quiet calm way that added to Connor's aggravation.

"Wha' is the matter with you?" Connor demanded after yet another nurse had left after checking on me.

"What?" Mitch finally turned away from me and looked at Connor.

"Yeh 'eard me, wha's the matter with you? How the hell can yeh be so fuckin' calm?"

Mitch sighed and turned completely to the side so that he was facing Connor.

"Nothing is the matter with me. I'm only calm because there's nothing I can do until she wakes up. We all have to be calm because if we're all angry and freaked out when she wakes up she's going to be upset and that's the last thing she needs right now."

"Wha'ever," Connor growled. "I need a smoke." He started toward the door.

"I'll come with yeh," Murphy said, getting up and following Connor out of the room. The brothers walked down to the lobby and then out to street. They each pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a silver zippo lighter. They lit their cigarettes and smoked in silence for awhile.

"Yer pretty wound up over this," Murphy pointed out at last. "Maybe yeh should calm down a bit."

"How would _you_ feel?" Connor demanded. "If it were Becky lying in tha' bed?"

"I'd be jus' as pissed as yeh are," Murphy answered. "But Connor, yeh can' take this out on Mitch. He's right about tryin' ta stay calm. Kieran's goin' ta be upset enough when she wakes up without yeh stompin' around an' punchin' the wall."

"I know." Connor tossed the butt of his cigarette away. "But Murphy tha' bastard beat 'er! He shot 'er an' left 'er ta die!" Murphy tossed the butt of his cigarette away and turned to his brother.

"I know wha' he did ta 'er. An' we're goin' ta fix it but first she 'as ta wake up an' we got ta take care of 'er."

Connor sighed and nodded in agreement.

"This shouldn' 'ave 'appened."

"She'll be fine." Murphy put his arm around his brother's shoulders. "C'mon, we'd better head back."

They came back into my room and took their seats.

"How is she?" Connor asked.

"Nothing's changed," Mitch answered. Connor ran his hand over the back of his head and then dug his cell phone out of his pocket.

"I'm goin' ta call Kieran's parents, let 'em know wha's 'appened."

"You'll make them worry," Becky said quietly.

"Well don' ya think they'll want ta know?"

"Yeah. Tell them she's in the hospital but don't tell them she got attacked. It was hard enough to get them to agree to let the three of us move here. If they find out she got attacked then they'll try to make us come home. Just tell them she tripped down the stairs and hit her head or something like that. And _don't _tell them how long she's been here."

"All righ'." Connor walked back out of the room and looked down at his phone. The battery bar was blinking. He cursed quietly and walked off to the pay phones, digging in his pockets for change. He could have just asked one of the others to use their phones but he needed to get out of my room and he wanted to be alone. He found a pay phone in the lobby and started feeding quarters into it. He dialed my parents' phone number and drummed his fingers on the top of the phone nervously while it rang.

"Hello?" my mother's voice asked at last.

"Mrs. Turner? It's Connor, Kieran's boyfriend."

"Oh, hi Connor. How's Kieran?"

"Tha's uh—tha's why I'm callin'. See Kieran's in the hospital."

My mom gasped and Connor could practically see her gripping the phone tightly.

"What? What happened? Is she okay?"

Connor closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and prepared himself to start lying.

"She fell down the stairs in 'er apartment building. She hit 'er head an' she's not awake yet but the doctor said she'll be fine." He opened his eyes and stared at the buttons on the phone.

"Do you think we should come to Boston?"

"No. I don' think yeh need ta be doin' tha'. She should be wakin' up soon."

"If you're sure. Tell her we love her."

"I'll do tha'." Connor shut his eyes again, hating having to lie to my mother. "G'bye Mrs. Turner."

"Bye Connor. Thanks for calling and letting us know what happened."

"Yer welcome." He hung up and stood still for a minute thinking about what he had done. He knew that if my mother ever found out that he had lied to her she probably would never forgive him. He slammed his hand against the top of the pay phone before composing himself and walking back to my room.

* * *

I could hear them talking quietly and I knew they were waiting for me to wake up. Only I didn't want to. I wanted to go back to sleep and forget what had happened. But the sounds of their voices, how sad Becky sounded and how angry Connor was, I had to wake up if only to make them feel better.

I groaned as I became aware of the dull thuds of pain passing through me. I knew I was being pumped full of pain medication but even so I also knew that nearly every inch of me hurt.

"Kieran," Connor's voice called quietly. "Kieran, can yeh 'ear me? I'm right 'ere." He took my hand and squeezed it. I felt my fingers twitch in response but I didn't have full control over my muscles yet. I groaned again and opened my eyes.

"Hey guys." my voice came out weak and raspy sounding.

"Oh my God she's really awake," Becky gasped. "Murphy go get Mitch!" Murphy ran out of the room and Becky jumped out of her chair and ran over to the couch. She started shaking Doc and telling him to wake up.

"Is she really awake?" Mitch asked as he and Murphy hurried into my room.

"Yeah," I replied. "I still feel like shit though."  
"Yeh've been out fer a long time," Connor explained. "The doctor couldn' explain it."

"Thought maybe yeh were goin' ta leave us." Murphy came to stand by Connor. Mitch appeared beside Becky and then Doc came to stand behind them.

"Nope. Still stuck with me."

Murphy smiled.

"Good."

I looked around at everyone.

"Have you guys been up all night?" I asked. "You look exhausted." Becky and the guys glanced uneasily at each other.

"Midge," Becky said slowly. "What day is it?" I blinked and thought for a minute.

"Well I was attacked last night and yesterday was Friday. So today's Saturday. Right?"

"Kier, it's been longer than that." Mitch put his hand over mine. "It's been almost a week."

"A—A week?" I stammered. "B—But..." I couldn't wrap my mind around that. How could I have been unconscious for almost a week?

"It's like we said," Connor explained, leaning closer to me. "The doctor couldn' explain why you weren' wakin' up. The surgery went fine."

"Surgery?"

"Ta remove the bullet from yer shoulder."

"Oh."

"But yer awake now an' tha's all tha' matters." He lifted the hand he was holding and kissed it. I squeezed his hand in response and this time my fingers did what I wanted.

"I'm going to get the doctor," Becky said. "He'll want to check you out." She walked out of the room. I sighed and leaned back against my pillows.

"Do you think I'll be able to leave?"

"I hope so," Mitch replied. "It's quiet without you." I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks," I snapped sarcastically. Connor and Murphy tried not to laugh as Mitch tried to explain what he meant without making me even angrier.

"No I just meant that—"

"That what? I talk too much?"  
"No! I meant that with you being in the hospital it's been a lot less lively at home. Becky's been really quiet without you. I'm used to being with the two of you and when one of you is gone it never seems right. And when the four of us have been together we've all been so worried that we hardly spoke. We missed you. _I _missed you."

I smiled at him and took a hold of his hand.

"I know. I was just messing with you. I'm sorry for worrying everyone."

"Don't worry about that." Mitch returned my smile as Becky returned with the doctor.

"Well it's good to see that you're awake Miss Turner." The doctor smiled warmly at me. "How're you feeling?"

"Sore," I answered. "Like I got hit by a truck."

"Well you're injuries were quite severe so some soreness is to be expected."

"Will I be able to go home soon?"

"Yes, tomorrow. I'd like to keep you overnight for observation but if everything checks out you'll be able to leave then."

I sighed and nodded.

"Okay."

* * *

The next morning the doctor came in and checked on how I was feeling.

"You seem to be just fine, considering what you've been through."  
"Can I go home then?"  
"Yes. But first the police are here and they'd like to ask you some questions if you're up to it."

I nodded and he left the room for a minute before returning with detectives Dolly and Duffy.

"Boys, what the hell happened?" Duffy demanded after the doctor had left. "What the fuck are you two doin' here?"

"Wha's it look like?" Connor replied. "Kieran got hurt. We 'ad ta stay with 'er."

"Quit worryin'," Murphy added. "It's not like we shot anyone. Do yeh think we'd 'ave come ta the hospital if it 'ad somethin' ta do with a job?"

"You may have gotten off the hook last time," Dolly warned. "But if you get caught again there won't be anyone to help you."

"Calm down Dolly," Becky replied. "They didn't do anything. They don't even know who to go after."

"Which brings us to why we're here." Duffy turned his attention to me. "What happened?"

"I got shot."

"That's it? Kieran, you've got ta give us more than that."  
I sighed.

"I was walking to the pub—"

"What time was it?" Dolly asked as he and Duffy pulled out their notebooks.

"About twelve-thirty I guess."

"Were you alone?"  
"Yes. I was on the phone with Connor. He was pissed because I hadn't called him or Murphy to pick me up and walk with me. I told him I was fine. I mean I was like, two blocks away. It's not like I can't walk places on my own."

"Back to the subject Midge," Becky instructed.

I rolled my eyes and continued.

"So I got off the phone and saw this guy walking toward me. He looked like he had somewhere to be, he was walking kind of fast and he had his head down so I didn't think much of him. I mean, I kept an eye on him but he just walked past me. But then all of a sudden he was behind me and I felt the barrel of a gun in my back."  
"Did he say anything?"  
"He said if I moved he would kill me. He dragged me into an alley and started beating the shit out of me. I screamed of help but—you know how the neighborhood is."

"Did he say anything to you while he hit you? Did he mention why he was attacking you?"  
I nodded and took a deep breath.

"He said it was because every criminal in town is scared of Connor and Murphy but he wasn't. He said they couldn't kill him if they didn't know who he was. I told him they'd find him anyway and kill him but he just laughed at me. Then he made me stand up and he shot me. I guess he figured I would be too hurt to move and that I'd just lie there and bleed to death 'cause he didn't stick around."

"Do you remember what he looked like?"

I started to shake my head but then I saw him in my mind almost as if he were standing right in front of me. I was so startled by this unwanted image that I jumped.

"Are yeh all right?" Connor asked, squeezing my hand. I nodded and cleared my throat.

"He was um—tallish."

"Tallish?" Dolly raised an eyebrow.

"Not as tall as Mitch but taller than Becky so—um—5' 6'' I guess."

"Anything else?" Dolly was starting sound annoyed.

"I think what he means is, did ya see his face?" Duffy said quickly before Connor could get pissed at Dolly for being short with me.

"He was white," I replied in a voice that was becoming shakier the more I spoke. "His hair was dark, not black though—um—a bit lighter than Murphy's."

"What color eyes did he have?" Duffy asked in a tone that suggested that he was trying his damnedest not to sound annoyed. I knew he was going to ask that but I didn't want to answer. I would have given anything in the world not to say what color his eyes were.

"Blue," I whispered, hating that they were the eye color I loved the most. "Lighter than any of the guys, like ice blue."

"You saw that in the dark?"

"The light from one of the—one of the street lamps lit up his face when he—" I stopped abruptly and looked down at my lap.

"When he what?"

"When he leaned over me and said "let's see them catch me"."

Connor's grip on my hand tightened suddenly and I flinched slightly. I pulled my other hand from Mitch's and placed it over Connor's. His grip relaxed.

"I'm goin' ta kill tha' fucker."

"Aye," Murphy agreed.

"Count me in," Mitch growled.

"Guys no," I pleaded.

"She's right," Duffy agreed. "You boys can't be gettin' into anymore trouble." None of the guys replied.

"Well I think we've got everything we need." Dolly tucked his notebook back into his jacket pocket. "If we think of anything else we'll get a hold of you."

"Okay," I replied quietly. "Bye."

"Get better soon, all right?" Duffy tucked his notebook into his jacket pocket as well.

"Will do."

The two of them nodded at the others and left. The doctor returned with a nurse who began doing one final vitals check.

"If everything is in order then I'll let you fill out the discharge papers and you can go home," he said. "How does that sound?"

"That sounds good." I sighed in relief when the nurse finished checking everything and nodded to the doctor. He smiled at me and handed me a clipboard with the papers I would need to fill out before I could leave. Connor helped me fill them out since my hands were a little shaky but soon they were done and he helped out to my car which Becky had gotten from our apartment while I was filling out paperwork. Once I was settled into the backseat with Connor beside me Becky, Murphy, and Mitch got in and Becky drove us home. Connor had decided that he was going to stay at our apartment with me instead of going back to the apartment he shared with Murphy above McGinty's so that he could watch over me.

"You don't have to hon," I protested as he picked me up from the backseat and carried me into the apartment building. I had told him I could walk just fine but he had insisted of carrying me. "I've got Becky, Mitch, and pain killers. I'll be fine."

"I don' care wha' yeh think yeh've got. I'm staying 'ere until I think yer all right. Now quit yer arguin'."

I would have continued on just for the sake of arguing but I was really glad that he was going to be staying in my room with me. Becky probably would have stayed with me if I had asked but Connor was so adamant about staying that I saw no way of winning that argument.

"I'm stayin' too," Murphy informed us.

"What for? You're _not _staying in my room too."

"No I think Becky's room's more suited ta my tastes thanks."

"Thanks for your concern Murph."

"Oh yeh know I love yeh. An' I've been worried sick since yeh've been in the hospital but now tha' yer well I need some time with me girl."

"And I wouldn't mind spending some time with my man." Becky let us into the apartment. "So who's hungry?"  
"I'm starving," I replied.

"I could go for food," Mitch agreed.

"Aye us as well." Connor carried me over to the couch and laid me down on it.

"All right. Food it is then, except for you Midge, you get chicken noodle soup."

"What? Dude, I want real food!"

"You haven't had 'real' food for almost a week. You need to eat something light or else you're going to be sick."

I rolled my eyes.

"Fine."

"Glad to see we agree." Becky set about making dinner. I settled down onto the couch and enjoyed being home again.

* * *

"_Connor_!" my scream shattered the silence of the apartment, making Connor jerk into a sitting position beside me.

"Fuck Kieran!" he cried as he turned on the light. "Wha' the hell's the matter?" I looked over at him and dissolved into sobs. I cried so hard my whole body shook.

"It won't stop," I whimpered. "He won't go away." Connor sighed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his chest and holding me tightly.

"I know yer scared but 'e can' hurt yeh now. Yer safe with me."

I clung to the front of his shirt as I continued to cry.

"But if feels so real. It—it hurts so much and no matter how loud I scream no one comes to help me."

"But it's _not _real. Look at yerself, yer not hurt, are yeh?"  
I shook my head. Connor's arms tightened around me and he kissed the side of my head.

"Darlin' 'e's never goin' ta touch yeh again. Not if I 'ave anything ta do with it."

The door to our room opened and Mitch, Becky, and Murphy came into the room. The three of them looked exhausted but also slightly frantic.

"What's going on?" Becky asked. "What's the matter Kieran?"

"Nothing," I muttered as I tried to wipe the tears from my eyes.

"Why are you crying?" Mitch moved forward to look closer at my face which was pale and tear-streaked.

"I said it's nothing."  
"She's 'avein' nightmares again," Connor explained.

"I told yeh tha's wha' it was," Murphy said sounding annoyed. "I'm goin' back ta bed. Yeh comin' Becky?"  
"Yeah in a minute."

Murphy shrugged and walked off up the hall to the room he shared with Becky. Shortly after I had gotten home from the hospital Connor and Murphy had asked to move in with us. They had made it sound like they wanted to do it so they could spend more time with us but we knew it was because they wanted to keep an eye on Becky and me. Ever since I had gotten attacked the twins had been very protective of the two of us.

"Kieran, what was it this time?" Mitch asked.

"The same thing it always is. He's not going away. I try to do what you and Becky said. I _try _to fight back or think of something else to make the dream change but it _just won't work_."  
"That's because you don't _believe _that it will."

"I'm _trying_!"

"Maybe you need to take a sleep aid or something," Becky suggested. "Maybe if you go into a deeper sleep then you won't wake up screaming."

"But what if I can't wake up at all? What if I get stuck in the nightmare until the drugs wear off?"

"I don't think that'll happen Midge. But we have to figure something out. We can't keep waking up every night like this. We have to go to work in the morning."

"Then don't wake up. Just ignore it."

"Midge you scream so loud I'm surprised the neighbors haven't called the cops. You sound like you're getting murdered."

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

"We'll talk about it in the morin'," Connor replied. "Fer now we ought ta get back ta bed." Becky sighed and looked at me for a minute longer.

"All right. See you in the morning." She turned and walked out.

"'Night Kier," Mitch said. "No more nightmares, okay?"

"Kay."

"We love you."

"I know. Love you too."

Mitch smiled at me and then followed Becky out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Yeh think we can go back ta sleep now?"

I sighed and hung my head.

"I'm sorry Connor. I don't mean to wake you up. I know I'm pissing you off." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes again. I shut my eyes tightly in an effort to keep them in.

"Yer not pissin' me off darlin'." He held me to him and smoothed my hair out of my face. "I know yeh can' control wha' yeh dream. I jus wish I could make it stop. Now lie down an' go ta sleep, alrigh'?"

I nodded and we laid down. I quickly snuggled up against him and he wrapped his arms around me. He reached down and touched the pendant that I wore around my neck.

"Wha's this then?"

"That? It's my necklace."

"How long've yeh had tha'?"

I laughed.

"Babe, I've had this since before we met. I never take it off. How haven't you noticed it before? Becky and Mitch have one too."

"The same one?"

"No, they each have a different pendant."

"Wha's yer's mean?"

"It's Armuan. It means the Warrior. Becky's pendant is Eagna, the Elements and Mitch's is Talamh, the Earth."

"The Warrior? Never figured yeh fer the fightin' type."

"Yeah well I only fight when I have to."

"Well no more fightin' tonigh', okay? Let's jus sleep."

"Sleep sounds very good." I laid my head on his chest and drifted off to sleep.


	5. The Plan

_Connor: "We're goin' ta find tha' bastard an' kill 'im."_

_Murphy: "Tha' would involve stalkin' 'im Connor."_

_Becky: "I can help with that."_

_Mitch: "We don't call her Stalker for nothing'."_

The following day, after getting out of work and deciding that five-thirty was really too early to be drinking on a work day, Becky and I decided to go see a movie. The boys said they would meet us at a restaurant afterward and we would have dinner before going to Doc's.

"That movie was amazing!" I said my voice louder than necessary because of my excitement.

"The guy was hot," Becky replied. I grinned at her as we neared the restaurant where all three of the guys were waiting.

"Not as hot as our boys though."

"Nope. Never."

The two of us laughed as we joined the guys.

"Wha'er yeh laughin' at?" Murphy asked as he wrapped an arm around Becky.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I teased.

"Aye, we would actually. So out with it girl," Connor answered.

"Well I'm not tellin'!"

"If you tickle her she will." Mitch grinned at me as I scowled at him.

"Traitor," I muttered. Connor wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close to him.

"Are yeh goin' ta tell me?"

"No."

"I'll 'ave no choice but ta force it out of yeh."

"Bite me," I challenged.

"Not wha' I 'ad in mind." He held me tightly with one arm and began tickling me across my side and stomach with his free hand. I let out a shriek of laughter and tried to squirm away but he grip was too strong.

"Okay! Okay!" I gasped through my laughter. "Okay I'll tell you!" He stopped tickling me but continued to hold me against him. I took several deep breaths to get my breathing back under control.

"We were laughing 'cause there was this guy in the movie we went to see who we thought was pretty good looking. But then we agreed that he would never be as good looking as you or Murph."

"Ahhh, I see. Well tha's good ta know." He leaned down and planted a kiss on my lips.

"Aye," Murphy agreed. "Glad ta see ya two won't be runnin' off with a movie anytime soon."

"Like we would. I doubt you two would let us make it out of the apartment," Becky replied. Murphy got a kick out of that and planted a kiss on her lips.

"Yer righ' about tha'."

"That's sweet. Can we eat now?" Mitch gestured toward the restaurant. The twins laughed and followed him into the restaurant, keeping Becky and I held against their sides.

"You know we can walk just fine on our own," Becky teased as the hostess led us to our table.

"Aye, so?" Murphy asked as he pulled her chair out for her.

"So you're being a tad overprotective," I explained as I sat down in the chair that Connor offered me. Becky and I were sitting beside each other and across from the twins while Mitch sat on my other side.

"We're not overprotective," Connor argued. "We jus like holdin' onta ya." Becky and I rolled our eyes. The waitress came over and we ordered our food. We continued our teasing and the whole evening was wonderful.

* * *

As we left the restaurant, the twins finally agreeing to let Becky and I walk on our own, Murphy asked if we were going to Doc's.

"Where else would we go?" Mitch asked. "We go to Doc's every night."

"Jus makin' sure yeh didn' 'ave any other plans."

"Nope no other plans than to get drunk and regret it tomorrow when we get up for work," Becky answered.

"Yeah that's gonna suck," I agreed. Becky and I were walking a little behind the guys. After spending quite some time being glued to the twins' sides we needed a little "girl time" and since the three of them seemed to having a good time teasing and shoving each other, we hung back and watched them.

As we walked past a bar I happened to glance up and see a man and a girl who looked about nineteen standing outside the bar. The girl was leaning against the wall of the building and the man had an arm over her head so that he was leaning over her. At first I didn't pay them much attention but just as Becky and I walked past them, the man spoke.

"You wanna go somewhere?" he asked the girl. "We can go to my place."

I froze.

_'That's him!' _I thought as I whipped around. The man and the girl were walking away from me, heading toward some apartments on the next street.

"Midge?" Becky touched my arm. "You okay?"

I shook my head, staring at the man's back.

"What's wrong?" she moved in front of me, blocking my view of him.

"That's him." My voice came out weak and shaky. "That guy. That's him." I pointed up the street in the direction the guy had gone. Becky looked behind her and saw the man and the girl walk up the front steps of an apartment building.

"You mean the guy that attacked you?" She turned back to me. I nodded and felt my body start to tremble. Becky put her arm around me and turned me back toward the guys.

"Wha'er yeh two doin'?" Connor called. The three of them were half a block away from us but when they realized that we weren't moving they came back to us.

"Wha's goin' on?" Murphy asked. Connor noticed that I was shaking and put his arm around me. Becky let me go and moved over to Murphy.

"See the apartment building up there?" She pointed up the street. The guys nodded.

"Aye." Connor looked confused. "So?"

"So that's where the guy who attacked her went."

It was as if something had snapped in the guys. All three of their faces darkened with rage and Connor's grip on me tightened to the point where it was almost painful.

"Yeh mean the fucker lives there?" Murphy asked. "I suggest we pay 'im a little visit."

"No." Becky said firmly. "Not right now. Look at Kieran, she's freaked out. We need to get her out of here." Connor's grip loosened slightly and he nodded.

"Aye. Let's go." He steered me up the street with the others following us.

We reached Doc's and Connor set about ordering drinks for me and him. Since I was still shaken up I began doing shots to try and calm myself. The others were also doing shots and the guys kept slamming their glasses down on the bar, always seeming on the verge of breaking them.

"All righ' you lot," Doc demanded. "Wha' the hell's g—g—g—gotten inta yeh? You boys've been pissed off all night an' Kieran an' Becky haven' said a w—w—word since yeh got here." The five of us were the only ones left in the bar now so we could tell Doc what had happened without anyone listening.

"Kieran saw the fucker who attacked her," Mitch growled as he threw back another shot.

"Yeh—Yeh d—d—d—did?" Doc asked. I nodded and stared dully into my beer. I was pretty wasted by now and wasn't freaked out anymore. That didn't change the fact that I didn't like what was going on.

"Well wha'did yeh boys d—d—d—do?" He looked worriedly at Connor and Murphy.

"Nothin'," Connor admitted after a minute. "We didn' do a fuckin' thing!" He slammed his fists onto the bar. "We know where 'e lives an' we didn' do shit!"

"Kieran needed to get out of there," Becky snapped. "I think she's more important than revenge."

"Becky's right yeh know," Doc agreed. "Yeh don' want ta loose 'er, do yeh Connor? FUCK! ASS!"Connor shook his head.

"This ain't over Connor," Murphy added. "We'll get 'im."

"What're yeh boys goin' ta do about 'im, now tha' yeh k—k—k—know where 'e lives?"

"We're goin' ta find tha' fucker an' kill 'im," Connor growled.

"Tha' would involve stalkin' 'im Connor," Murphy replied.

"I can help with that," Becky said with a grin.

"We don't call her Stalker for nothin'," Mitch added, grinning as well. As the four of them began discussing the best way to go about this I stared at my hands and thought. This fucker had nearly killed me. I understood how much the others wanted him dead but I suddenly had the urge to be the one who killed him.

"I want to do it," I said, speaking for the first time since we had left the spot where I had seen the guy. "I want to be the one who kills him."

"Darlin' I don' know if tha's the best idea," Connor said in a soft voice.

"Aye. Yeh don' know wha' yer doin'. We don' want yeh gettin' hurt ." Murphy leaned around Becky and gave me the same 'you're acting completely irrational' look that Connor was giving me.

"So?" I challenged. "Teach me then. Becky and Mitch are going to help you so why can't I do something too?"

"I don' want ta loose yeh, tha's why." Connor tried to put his arm around me but I jerked away from him.

"Don't treat me like a child! I can do just as much as Becky and Mitch!"

"She's right Connor," Becky agreed. "I mean, if we're going to do this then we should do it together." Connor frowned at the two of us and then looked over at Murphy. After a minute of what appeared to be a silent conversation he nodded at his twin and turned back to us.

"All righ'. Yeh can help but yer not goin' ta be the one ta kill 'im. Tha's goin' ta be our job, at least until we're sure the three of yeh can do this."

"Fine," Becky and I replied. We looked over at Mitch and he nodded in agreement.

"All righ', now tha' tha's settled, let's figure out how we're goin' ta get to tha' son of bitch." Connor leaned forward on the bar and looked up and down at the rest of us.


	6. Revenge

_...Just before the twins began to say their prayer Connor leaned closer to him._

_Connor: "I hope you burn in Hell."_

I peeked around the corner and watched as Becky walked down the hall and stopped in front of a door. This was where the guy who had attacked me lived. Becky had been staking out the apartment all week to be sure we found the right one. The apartment building didn't have one of those locked front gates so Becky didn't have to sneak in behind anyone. Even so there had been a fair deal of sneaking around so that she wouldn't be noticed by anyone who lived there.

Becky was dressed in a pair of tight black jeans and a tight black t-shirt. Her hair was up in a somewhat messy ponytail, as if she had thrown it up just to get it out of the way, but this was important for how she was going to get into the apartment. She raised her fist and knocked lightly on the door. Before the door could open, Connor pulled me back around the corner so I wouldn't be seen. He and Murphy were dressed in black turtlenecks and light blue jeans. Mitch was dressed in a black t-shirt and light blue jeans. I was dressed identical to Becky right down to a slightly messy ponytail but this had less to do with something that was planned and more to do with the fact that I had really thrown it up to get it out of the way.

The sound of a door opening came down the hall.

"Yeah?" a man's voice asked.

"Hi," Becky's voice replied, sounding very cheerful and slightly out of breath. "I'm Rebekah. I just moved in up the hall and I just wanted to meet some of my neighbors." Beside me Murphy's body was completely tense. He_ really _didn't like Becky talking to this guy.

"Oh," the guy said. "You wanna come in?"

"Sure." I peeked around the corner again and saw Becky walk into the apartment. The four of us walked quietly down the hall as the door closed and then opened again very slightly. Becky had left the door ajar so that we could get in without making any noise. We waited outside, peeking in through the crack as she and the guy sat down on the couch.

"You want something to drink?" He jerked a thumb toward the kitchen. "I've got beer."

"That'd be great." Becky smiled at him.

"Fucker," Murphy spat under breath. As soon as the guy disappeared into the kitchen Connor opened the door and we slipped into the living room, closing the door silently behind us. Becky got to her feet and walked quietly over to us.

"He didn' touch yeh, did 'e?" Murphy asked as he put an arm around her,

"Like I'd let him."

The guy came back into the room holding two bottles of beer but when he saw all of us standing there he dropped them and they hit the floor with a crash.

"Who the fuck're you?" He demanded.

"You don't recognize them?" Becky asked. "They're the Saints of South Boston." She nodded toward the twins. "And what about her?"

The guy looked over at me when Becky pointed me out. He squinted at me but then shrugged.

"No idea, who is she?"

"She the girl yeh beat, shot, and left ta die you piece of shit!" Connor snarled, raising one of his guns and pointing it at the guy. The guy looked at me again and smirked.

"Oh yeah, I remember you. I thought you died."

Connor stormed over to him and punched him hard enough to knock him to the floor. Murphy came over to his brother and gave the guy a kick in the chest.

"Tha's fer talking ta my girlfriend."

"Murphy that was part of the plan," Becky reminded him.

"Doesn' mean I liked it."

Connor motioned to the rest of the apartment.

"Go see if anyone else is 'ere."

"Yeh know there won' be."

"Check anyway."

Murphy rolled his eyes and walked off into the apartment. I began to fidget beside Becky. Maybe it had been a stupid idea to want to be here. Maybe I should have stayed home. I felt Becky take a hold of my hand and give it a squeeze.

"Everything's fine," she whispered. I nodded and squeezed her hand back. Connor pointed his gun at the guy's face.

"So yer the one who shot Kieran." He glared down at the guy but the guy didn't answer. It was like he didn't even care that there was gun pointed at his face or that there were two _very _pissed off Irishmen about to kill him.

"There's no one else 'ere," Murphy said as he came back into the living room. Connor grabbed the guy by the back of his shirt and yanked him to his knees. The twins stood behind him, their guns aimed at the back of his head. Just before they began to say their prayer Connor leaned closer to him.

"I 'ope you burn in Hell," he snarled. Then they began to pray, speaking in the unison.

"An' shepherds we shall be for thee, my lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand. Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee. And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomine Patris et Filii," they paused and cocked their guns. "Et Spiritus Sancti." They pulled the triggers and the guy fell to the floor where his blood began to pool around him. The bullets had exited out his eyeballs, leaving nothing but two bloody holes. It was very quiet for a minute.

"Well shit," Becky said at last.

"Nicely done." Mitch nodded his approval. The twins turned to me. I didn't speak for minute. I couldn't take my eyes off the dead body in front me.

"Kieran?" Connor asked. "Are yeh all righ'?" I looked up at him.

"Aren't you going to pennies in his eyes?" I replied calmly. "We're going to do this right, aren't we?" Connor and Murphy grinned at me.

"Aye," they replied. They turned the guy over and Murphy crossed his arms over his chest while Connor put pennies over his eyes. They crossed themselves and prayed silently for a minute. When they were done they stood up and came over to us.

"Well, tha's done. Up fer a drink?" Murphy grinned at us. The three of us nodded.

"Are yeh sure yer all righ'?" Connor asked.

"I'm fine. Does it look like I'm not?"

"No. Yeh look fine but tha's what bothers me."

"Connor, I'm _fine_. It really doesn't bother me at all. I _told _you that I wished the others and I could do this so why would I be upset?"

"She's got a point," Murphy agreed. "Ta be honest I prefer them bein' okay wit' this ta them freakin' out."

"Aye. I suppose yer right."  
"Of course he is," Becky replied. "Now can we please get out of here before we get caught?" The twins put their guns away and we slipped back out into the hall and walked calmly back out of the building.

* * *

The murder was in the paper the next day but since Dolly and Duffy knew the twins were behind it but they covered it up by saying it was a copycat.


	7. The Three New Saints

_Romeo: "Are you saying I look gay?"  
Murphy: "No. You jus hail from a colorful..."  
Romeo: "You don't know me. You think these make me look gay?"  
Irish Gun Dealer: "You look like you might have seen one up close."_

A week had passed since the twins had killed the guy who had attacked me. Since then Becky, Mitch, and I had been itching to go on another mission. The only problem was that Connor and Murphy weren't so keen on letting us join them.

"Look, if you two don't let us help then we might just go out and do this on our own," Becky threatened for about the millionth time as she sat on the couch between me and Murphy.

"Yeh'll do no such thing," Murphy warned.

"Well then let us help."

"We're still thinkin' about it."

I sighed and flicked the bottle cap from my hard lemonade at him.

"You need to hurry it up 'cause I'm tired of waitin'."

Connor sat down beside me and took a drink from his beer.

"We'll tell yeh when we've decided."

"Don't take too long," Mitch warned. "Those two aren't kidding when they say they'll go out and do this by themselves." I leaned around Connor and raised an eyebrow at Mitch who was sitting on the floor by the coffee table.

"Are you not going to help us?"

"I didn't say that."

"You did so. You said 'those two' as in me and Becky and not you."

"Well I meant that even if they tell you guys no then you're still going to go out and do it. And if you go then so will I."

"Good." I smiled and sat back. I smiled up at Connor but he didn't smile back.

"Look, wha' we do, it's not easy," he said. "We don' think tha' the three of yeh are ready fer this."

"All you have to do is tell us what to do," Becky replied. "We want to do this. We even know who we want to go after."

"Oh yeah?" Murphy questioned. "An' who's tha'?"

"Antonio Yakavetta."

Murphy coughed halfway through a sip of his beer and started choking. Becky hit him on the back a couple of times until he stopped coughing.

"Yeh want ta wha'?" Connor demanded. He looked at the three of us like he thought we were insane and considering what Becky had just said, we probably were. Antonio Yakavetta was the younger brother of Papa Joe Yakavetta, the old leader of the Boston Mafia. The twins had killed him in 1999 and then his son, Concezio, had taken over and the twins had killed him in 2009. Now Antonio had come from New York to take over.

"Yeh can' be serious." Murphy looked around at the three of us.

"We've never been more serious," Becky replied. Mitch and I nodded in agreement.

"Yer not anywhere _near _ready ta take 'im down," Connor argued.

"Well we didn't say that we were. But if you _teach us_ then we would be."

Connor shook his head and looked over at his brother.

"Wha'dyeh think Murph?"

"I think if we don' let 'em 'elp soon then they're goin' ta go out an' get themselves killed. So we might as well teach 'em wha' ta do."

Connor nodded and took another drink.

"All righ'," He said at last. "We'll take yeh out on a job. If you can handle tha' then you'll be Saints."

* * *

Becky, Mitch, the brothers, and I stood outside the back door of the Sin Bin. The twins had given us all black ski masks to hide our identities. The three of us had to tuck our hair up under the mask so that no one would be able to see our hair color.

"So how're we going to do this without guns?" Becky asked as she put her mask on.

"We'll let yeh borrow ours fer this," Murphy replied as he loaded one of his black MI Desert Eagle Mark XIX and then did the same thing to his other one.

"If yeh prove yeh can do this then we'll take yeh ta get yer own," Connor added as he loaded his guns which were identical to his twin's.

"Ready?" Murphy held up his gun and put his hand on the door.

"Ready," Mitch, Becky, and I replied. He pushed open the door and we slipped inside. The twins led us to the room where the stripper would be entertaining. Connor checked to make sure she was in there before he motioned for us to continue. We burst into the room, scaring the woman who was getting ready. Murphy grabbed her before she could start screaming and covered her mouth.

"We're not goin' ta hurt yeh. Jus tell us how many there are."

She held up three fingers. Murphy looked at Connor. Connor nodded and Murphy used a stun gun to knock the woman out. After she was unconscious we were able to take off our masks. Connor checked the three rooms and turned back to us.

"All righ' who's goin' first?" He held up one of his guns.

"I'll go," Mitch replied, walking over to the booth on the left. He took the gun and stood in front of the glass that separated him from whoever he was supposed to kill. "Should I say the prayer?"

"No," Connor answered. "We'll teach yeh tha' if yeh prove yeh can do this." Mitch nodded and raised the gun.

"Ready?" Connor stood by the button that would raise the steel door behind the glass. Mitch nodded again and Connor hit the button. The door went up and Mitch pulled the trigger. The glass shattered with the first bullet. He pulled the trigger again just to make sure he hit the guy. Connor looked into the booth.

"Very nice." He nodded his approval and took his gun back. Murphy turned to Becky and offered her one of his guns.

"Want ta go next?" He smirked at her. She smirked back and took his gun.

"Hell yeah I do." She stood in front of the booth on the right and raised the gun. "Do it." Murphy hit the button and Becky pulled the trigger twice. Murphy grinned at her, walked over to her, and kissed her.

"I knew yeh could do it."

"Did you? The way you were talking before made it sound like you didn't have any faith in us at all."

"Well I always thought _you _could do it. The other two I wasn' so sure about."

"Thanks Murphy." I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, yeh haven' had yer turn yet so I'm still not sure about _you_."

"I can do it!" I protested.

"Well then prove it."

"She'll do it." Connor walked over to me and pressed his gun into my hand. I gripped the gun and turned to the booth in the center of the room. Connor put his hands on my shoulders.

"Jus take a deep breath an' pull the trigger. Don' think about anythin' else." He whispered. I nodded and he walked over to the button.

"Okay," I said. "Hit it." The door went up and I pulled the trigger twice. I knew that both bullets had hit their mark and as soon as I knew that I felt like something clicked inside me. Something that had been missing. Doing this felt _good_.

Connor cheered. He came running over to me, picked me up, and swung me around in a circle.

"I knew yeh could do it!" He kissed my forehead before setting me back on my feet.

"Told ya so!" I smirked at Murphy. He waved dismissively at me and pulled Becky against his side.

"Looks like we'll be gettin' the three of yeh yer guns."

Mitch, Becky, and I grinned at each other.

"Well let's get going then," Becky suggested. "Preferably before _she _wakes up." She nodded toward the stripper.

"Can' even wait 'til morning can yeh?" Murphy asked as we walked back out into the alley behind the Sin Bin.

"No we can't," I replied. "We've waited long enough." Since he couldn't argue with that or at least couldn't think up a good argument at the moment he just shrugged. The two of them led us to a building that had a basement apartment built into it. We walked down the stairs that led to the door from the street. Connor knocked twice and the door opened.

"Gentlemen!" a guy dressed in a white button up top, a pair of brown dress pants, and a light brown flat cap said cheerfully. "It's been a while. I see you've brought some friends." He let us into the room where there was only a small table and was lit only by a bare light bulb.

"Aye, these three are our new recruits," Connor replied. "We've come ta get them their weapons."

"How much're we goin' ta owe yeh?" Murphy asked. The guy shook his head.

"Oh please, you two are my best customers. Everything's on the house." He hit a button under the table and some lights came on behind us. We turned around and saw that half the room and been blocked off with a cage and inside the cage were more guns than any of the three of us had ever seen.

"Well shit," I said.

"Damn straight," Becky agreed.

"I think I'm in heaven," Mitch added. The twins grinned at us and handed us each a black bag.

"Well 'ave at it kids," Connor said. We grabbed the bags and hurried into the cage. I found a black case and opened it. Inside were two black MI Desert Eagle Mark XIX with matching weights. They were the same guns that the boys used and as soon as I saw them I knew they were the ones that I wanted. I lifted one of the guns out of the case and tested how if felt in my hand. I liked the feeling of the cold metal against my skin. I put it back and set the case in my bag.

"Wha'd yeh pick?" Connor asked.

"The same guns as you and Murph."

"Why those?"

I shrugged.

"I like 'em." I put the bag over my shoulder and began looking at the other weapons and accessories that filled the room. I picked up a pair Beretta 92Fs and a pair of silencers that matched these guns and added them to my bag then I walked over to Becky as she picked up a gun from a case identical to mine.

"What'd you pick?" I asked.

"Akdal Ghost TR-01s with detachable silencers," she replied as she put the case into her bag. "They've got fixed sights and built in suppressors too."

"Might want ta grab another set of guns," Murphy suggested. "Jus in case somethin' 'appens ta the set yeh've got."

"All right. Any suggestions?"

"The Berettas are always nice."

"Of course they are." Becky rolled her eyes playfully and picked up a pair of the guns as well as the matching silencers. She tossed a pair of each to Mitch and he added them to his bag.

"What other set are yeh gettin'?" Connor asked.

"Heckler & Koch Mark 23s," Mitch answered. "With detachable silencers and this." He held up a pair of little black squares.

"What're those?" I asked.

"Laser sights."

"Wha' the fuck do yeh need laser sights fer?" Connor questioned. "It's not like yeh've got a sniper rifle now is it?"

"I think they're cool. Who knows, I might need 'em."

"What the fuck could yeh possibly need 'em fer?" Connor argued. "It's not like yer goin' ta be pickin' people off from a rooftop!"

"Maybe not but you never know what could come in handy."

"Yer insane."

"Says the guy who's obsessed with fuckin' rope," Murphy sneered.

"I 'aven't got any, have I?" Connor replied. "No. So there."

"Oh really?" Mitch grabbed Connor's bag and ripped it open. He reached inside and pulled out a long coil of rope. "What'dya call this?"

"Fuck the both of yeh," Connor snapped as Murphy and Mitch started laughing. "Me havin' rope has come in handy more than once."

"The fuck it has!" Murphy replied. "Every fuckin' time yeh bring yer stupid rope I end up getting' tangled up in it!"

"Oh you shut yer fuckin' mouth!" Connor warned. "If it weren't fer my 'stupid' rope we never would 'ave been able to pull off tha' hit at the Pru."

"Yeah well—" Murphy began.

"Enough!" Becky stepped between the two of them. "Quit yer bitchin', quit yer bitchin', quit yer bitchin'." She pointed first and Murphy, then at Connor, and then at both of them.

"He started it!" they cried.

"I don't give a fuck _who _started it. Just quit it!"

"Oh an' wha' about _you _Murphy?" Connor asked. "Wha's in _yer _bag?"

"None'a yer damn business, tha's wha'."

"We'll see about tha'." Connor snatched Murphy's bag and ripped it open. "Oh, wha's this?" He pulled out a bowie knife. "_Why _do yeh 'ave this _again_ then, Rambo?"

"I said quit it!" Becky snatched the knife and Murphy's bag from Connor. He chuckled.

"Sorry Becky." Murphy came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Becky snorted and turned to him.

"So you're going to try and butter me up now, are you Murphy MacManus?"

"Is it working?" He smirked at her.

"We'll see." She shoved his things into his arms and picked up her own bag. "Are we all done here?"

"I'm good to go," I replied. The two of us headed back over to the table, the guys following behind us. Connor and Mitch were still bickering over the point of having laser sights but they were doing it quietly, probably in an attempt not to piss off Becky. Becky, Mitch, and I set our bags on the table and showed the arms dealer what we had chosen.

"Very nice choices," he said with a smile. "Much better than the last recruit."

"What last recruit?" I asked.

"Some Mexican."

"He means Romeo," Connor said. "He picked these god awful guns that had the colors of the Mexican flag on 'em an' gold silencers."

"They were gay," Murphy added.

"What happened to him?" Mitch asked.

"He died," Murphy answered. "When we were in Hoag."

"Sucks for him," Becky replied.

"Tha's why we 'ave doubts about lettin' the three of yeh be Saints," Connor said. "Our last two recruits died. Rocco was killed by the Mafia and Romeo died from the shoot out we had at the Roman's place."

"The who?" I asked.

"Some asshole who used to be friends with our Da. He's dead now too, Da killed 'im."

"Where's your dad?"

"Dead. He died takin' out the Roman."

"I'm sorry."

Connor shrugged.

"Tha's the risk of bein' a Saint. We don' think the three of yeh quite get tha'."

"Of course we do," Becky argued. "We're not stupid. We know we could get killed doing this but we _want _to. If feels good."

"If feels _right_," I added. "Like we should have always been doing this."

"Then the three of yeh completely fuckin' insane," Murphy replied.

"We're just as insane as the two of you, dearie," Becky said.


	8. A Complete Clusterfuck

_Mitch, Schyler, and Becky : "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name._

_Till Kingdom come, Our will be done to smite the wicked and kick ass._

_AMEN!"_

For the last few weeks the brothers had been taking my friends and I out on a mission every other night. Unfortunately they were all small hits, drug dealers, pimps, and other general lowlifes, nothing like what we were itching to do. Each time I fired my guns I felt more certain that this was what we were meant to do. But the twins were still unsure and refused to teach us the prayer they recited before they shot someone.

* * *

"You promised you would though!" I complained as we walked toward a house known for being a drug dealer's hang out. "You said if we proved that could do this when we were at the Sin Bin then you would and that was weeks ago!"

"It's a family thing, darlin'," Connor replied. "We never taught Rocco or Romeo an' we jus want ta be absolutely sure before we teach the three of yeh."

"Whatever," I grumbled as I locked the clip into my gun, a little harder than was necessary. Connor, Mitch, and I were going in through the front door while Becky and Murphy were going in through the back. There were three main targets tonight. Of course any asshole in the place was going down but our main targets were the drug dealer and his first and second in command.

Connor kicked open the front door and the three of us charged into the front hallway.

"They'll be in the basement," he said as we began picking off the guys who emerged from the rooms up ahead. "Gettin' ready to sell their shit most likely." Towards the back of the house came the sound of Murphy kicking in the back door and more gunfire as he and Becky made their way toward us. We met in the middle of the front hall. The twins went upstairs to make sure there was no one there while my friends and I waited by the basement door to make sure our targets didn't try to leave. When the boys returned we threw open the basement door and stormed down the steps together.

"What the fuck?" one of the men cried. Connor kicked a chair at him, surprising him long enough for Connor to knock him to the ground. Murphy took out the second guy while Mitch took out the third. Once they had them on their knees Becky and I went to join Mitch. I stood in the middle with Becky on my right and Mitch on my left. We pointed out guns at the back of the guy's head. Beside us, the twins were saying their prayer over the other guy. The leader of this whole operation was currently tied to a chair. The twins fired their guns.

"Well get on with it," Murphy snapped when he saw that we still hadn't shot our guy. "We 'aven't got all fuckin' night."

"We're goin'," Becky snapped. "Keep your pants on." She nodded and the three of us began praying in unison.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy name. Till Kingdom come, Our will be done to smite the wicked and kick ass." We cocked our guns. "AMEN!" We fired and the guy fell over, his brains oozing out onto the floor.

"Wha' the fuck was tha'?" Connor exploded.

"It's our prayer," I replied. "You guys won't teach us yours so we made up our own."

"Tha' was most blasphemous shit I've ever 'eard!" Murphy yelled. "The three of yeh ought ta be ashamed!"

"Oh shut it Murphy," Becky snapped. "All you have to do is teach us the _right _prayer and we'll never say this one again."

"Fine," Murphy snapped back. "We'll teach yeh the damn prayer."

"We already know it," Mitch replied. "It not like we haven't heard the two of you say it before."

"Well fuckin' good fer you."

"All righ', let's finish this," Connor said before Mitch could say anything. "The two of yeh can fight about this later." He walked over to the leader and untied him. The guy was cursing him out in some foreign language so I had no idea what he was saying but I could tell that it was nothing good. Connor shoved him to his knees and we came to line up around him. Connor stood on the left while Murphy stood on the right. Becky and I stood between them, Becky beside Murphy and me beside Connor.

"Okay this isn't going to work if we all stand up," Becky pointed out. She dropped to her left knee and I followed her example, dropping to my right knee. Mitch stood behind the two of us. We pulled out our guns and aimed at the guy's skull. Mitch and the twins were aiming down while Becky and I were aiming up.

"This is going to be interesting," I said.

"This is clusterfuck," Mitch replied.

"Damn straight it is," Becky agreed.

"The three of yeh shut up," Murphy snapped. "It's time ta be serious.

"We are being serious," Becky replied. "This is _seriously _a complete clusterfuck." Mitch and I attempted to suppress our laughter which only made Murphy more pissed off.

"Can we stop the chatter please?" Connor asked. "Let's get on with this, shall we?" Mitch and I composed ourselves and nodded. With that the five of us began to pray.

"An' shepherds we shall be for thee, my lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand. Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee. And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomine Patris et Filii," we paused and cocked their guns. "Et Spiritus Sancti." All five of our guns went off at once and blood and brains exploded from the guy's skull. Becky and I jumped back to avoid being completely covered in brain matter and ran into Mitch, knocking him the floor.

"What'd I tell ya?" he asked as he tried to untangle himself from the two of us. "Clusterfuck."

"_EW_!" I cried as I wiped brain matter from the barrel of my gun. "This is _beyond _nasty!"

"How about we don't do that again?" Becky suggested.

"I'm with yeh there love," Murphy said as he helped her to her feet.

"Ya got a little—" she reached up and picked some brain matter from his hair. "Ew."

"Let's get cleaned up an' then head over ta Doc's," Connor said as he pulled me to my feet.

"I need a shower," I replied as we headed out of the basement.

"I call first dibs!" Becky said.

"The fuckin' hell you do! I said it first!"  
"I called dibs."

"Fuck you."  
"Where, when, and how hard?"

"Hey," Murphy cut in. "Tha's my job."

"Yeh know," Connor said, putting his arm around me and pulling me against him before I could say anything else to Becky or Murphy. "Tha' shower's big enough fer two. How's about the two of us take one together?"

"I like how you think Connor MacManus."

"I thought yeh might."


	9. The Pains of Being a Saint

_Connor: "Now's yer chance ta earn yer strips, Roc!"_

_Murphy: "He'll fuckin' get killed!"_

_Connor: "It was yer idea ta bring 'im in!"_

"So who're we hittin' next?" I asked as I sat at the bar in McGinty's.

"Not sure yet," Connor replied.

"How about Yakavetta?" Becky asked. Murphy and Connor rolled their eyes.

"Yer not ready yet," Murphy answered.

"No, you're just overprotective."Becky took a sip of her beer and looked over at me. "Right Midge?"

"Right."

"Well o' course she's goin' ta take _yer _side," Murphy said. "The two of yeh are like fuckin' twins."

"Well that doesn't change the fact that she's still right," I replied.

"The three of yeh aren't ready fer Yakavetta yet," Connor said. "But yeh are ready fer some of the other Mafia assholes."

"Like who?" Mitch asked.

"An underboss or two. Maybe some Russians as well."

"You boys make sure you l—l—look after those two girls," Doc instructed. "God help yeh if anythin' happens to 'em."

"What about me?" Mitch asked.

"Ah well you can take care o' yerself. FUCK! ASS!"  
Mitch snorted.

"Thanks Doc."

"C'mon you three," Connor said as he finished up his beer. "Time ta go ta work."

"We're going out?" I asked. "Now?"  
"Aye, now c'mon."

The three of us chugged the rest of our beers and stood up.

"We'll be back later, Doc," Murphy said as we headed out the door.

"Where're going?" Becky asked.

"There's a meetin' between a couple o' the underbosses." Murphy pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and began to smoke. Beside him, Connor did the same thing.

"So have you told Dolly and Duffy that we're working with you?" Mitch asked.

"They figured tha' out on their own," Connor answered.

"What are they saying about the murders?"  
"They're still goin' with the copycat thing. They can' exactly say it's us doin' it now can they? Everyone knows who we really are."

* * *

The twins led us to the warehouse district.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Becky asked as we crept along the wall of one of the warehouses. "Seems like a weird place for just two guys to meet."

"They're pickin' up some sort of shipment," Murphy replied. "Now shut up."

"Are you sure there're only two of them?"

"Yes."

"Are you_ sure_?"

"Yes I'm sure now shut up, will yeh!"

Becky rolled her eyes but didn't say anything else. Connor held up his hand and we all stopped walking and began loading our guns.

"It's tha' buildin' over there." He tilted his head in the direction of a building around the corner from us. "Everyone ready?" We nodded as we finished up. Connor nodded back and we crept around the corner. There were two guys standing guard outside the door. I stowed one of my Desert Eagles back in its holster and drew one of my Berettas. Becky and I each fired once, taking out the guards.

"Tha's our girls," Connor said with grin.

"We're badasses," Becky and I replied. We knelt down and crossed the arms of the guards and put pennies over their eyes.

"Yeh could'a waited until we were finished ta do that," Murphy snapped.

"Well aren't you moody tonight?" Becky questioned. "I'll fix that later." She smirked at him and after a minute he couldn't help but smirk back.

"Well let's finish up then." He and Connor led the way into the warehouse and let's just say things didn't go exactly according to plan.

As soon as we walked in we knew Murphy had been wrong about only two guys meeting here. There were at least ten of them and they seemed just as surprised to see us as we were to see them.

"Who the fuck're you?" one of them demanded.

"Well shit Murph," Mitch said. "Way to miscalculate."

"Ah shut it," Murphy snapped.

"I asked you a question!" the guy shouted, pointing a gun at Murphy. Murphy pulled out his own gun and shot the guy in the chest.

"Tha's who the fuck I am." There was a moment of stunned silence from the mafia guys and then the shooting started.

"Shit!" I yelped as Becky and I ducked behind a stack of crates. "We're gonna fucking _die_!"

"Oh calm down Midge," Becky replied as she leaned around one side of the crates to shoot at the two guys who were coming toward us. "We can handle it." I leaned around the other side of the crates and shot at the guy on my side. I hit him in the chest twice and he fell to the ground. The guy Becky was aiming at got hit once in the chest and twice in the stomach before he keeled over. The two of us jumped up and ran over to the stack of crates that the guys were crouching behind. The three of them had taken out five of the guys who were left and Connor and Mitch were arguing over who had killed the last guy.

"I did it, I shot last," Connor argued.

"I shot him in the chest!" Mitch argued back. "My bullet killed him; all yours did was hit him in the leg!"

"You don' know tha'! I could'a been the one who hit 'im in the chest!"

"Bullshit!"

Connor grabbed Mitch around the neck and they started wrestling and punching one another.

"Now is not the time for this!" Becky shouted over the gunfire as she and I pulled the two of them apart.

"We've got work to do boys," I added. "Fight later, kill now." The guys stood up and started shooting over top of the crates while Becky and I rolled out from behind them and started shooting. We had taken out most of the guys when I saw another one coming out from behind a forklift. He aimed his gun at Becky who was focusing on another guy.

"Becky!" I shouted as he pulled the trigger. "Move!" I shoved her to the side, knocking her to the floor. Pain ripped through my arm and I fell on top of her.

"Kieran!" Connor yelled as he shot the guy who had fired at me.

"I'm fine!" I replied as I sat up and shot one of the three remaining guys. Mitch and Murphy took out the last two. It was quiet for a minute except for a slight ringing in my ears from all the gunfire. Becky and I sat on the floor while the guys went around positioning the bodies and putting pennies in their eyes. Mitch and Connor both had cuts on their cheeks but I wasn't sure if that was from ducking for cover or from fist fighting each other and Murphy's leg was bleeding.

"You okay Midge?" Becky asked as she put pressure over the cut on her arm which she had only gotten because I had pushed her. Now that the fighting had stopped and I had time to think I realized how much my arm hurt.

"Yeah I think so," I replied as I put pressure on the bullet wound. "Hurts like a bitch though."

"C'mon," Connor said, coming over to me and helping me to my feet. "Let's get home and get cleaned up."

* * *

Murphy slammed the door behind him as he followed the rest of us into the apartment. The trip home had been full of colorful language, especially from Murphy who seemed more pissed off than usual.

"What's your problem?" I asked as I watched Connor bandaged Becky's arm.

"You are!" Murphy shouted. "You an' yer fuckin' heroics!"

"Oh, so I'm just supposed to let some guy _shoot _my best friend!"

"Yer supposed ta watch her back! Not get shot!"

"Well I wouldn't have had to if you had known how many fucking guys were going to be there! It's not like _you _had her back now was it!"

"Don' yeh fuckin' blame me fer—"

"For what! For being a fucking moron!"

It was silent for a minute and then Murphy, glaring at me like he could kill me, grabbed one of his guns.

"Whoa," Becky said, quickly putting herself between him and me. "Enough. Murphy calm the fuck down."

"She called me a moron."

"And shooting her is only going to prove that she's right."

Murphy continued to glare at me but put his gun down. Connor grabbed my hand and pulled me backwards so that there was more room between me and his twin.

"Mitch, will yeh heat up the iron so tha' I can get these bullets out of the two o' them?"

"Sure." Mitch went to the hall closet to get the iron before turning on the stove and setting the iron on top. I looked warily at the stove.

"Um what's the iron for?" I asked.

"I'm going ta haffta sterilize the wound," Connor answered, gently putting his hand over mine when I winced at his explanation.

"Are yeh goin' ta be a baby about it?" Murphy sneered. "Yeh can take a bullet but yeh can' handle it being taken out, can yeh?"

"Fuck off Murphy," I snapped. "I can handle it." Mitch took the iron off the stove and started to bring it to Connor.

"No, we'll do this in the kitchen," he said as he led me into the kitchen. "It'll be easier ta clean up tha' way." He told me to sit in a chair and handed a dish towel to Mitch.

"Put this in 'er mouth. Becky, yeh should come over 'ere an' hold 'er hand. She's goin' ta need it." Becky left Murphy and came over to me, holding out her hand. I took it and allowed Mitch to put the dish towel in my mouth and then pull then ends back so that it was tight while I bit down on it. Connor ripped the sleeve of my shirt so that the wound was fully exposed. He took a knife and used the end to dig the bullet out of my arm. I shut my eyes tightly and let out a high pitched whimper. Then he picked up the iron and placed it against my skin. I screamed and gripped Becky's hand so hard that my fingers hurt. Becky squeezed my hand with both of hers while my other hand gripped the side of the chair. Connor held the iron against my arm for only a minute but that minute felt like forever. When he took it away Mitch removed the towel from my mouth.

"FUCK!" I yelled as I managed to release my grip on Becky's hand and the side chair. Tears of pain were streaming down my cheeks but I didn't really feel like crying until the pain stopped, I really just wanted to yell.

"FUCK! MOTHER FUCKING FUCK! DAMN IT ALL TO THE PITS OF HELL! FUCK MY LIFE! _FUCK_!" I continued as Connor began to bandage my arm. Murphy laughed and came into the kitchen.

"Well yeh took tha' better than I thought yeh would," he teased. I stuck my tongue out at him. He chuckled and took my place as I got up walked over to the fridge.

"Anyone else want a drink?" I asked as I grabbed a Smirnoff Ice.

"Plan of getting drunk darlin'?" Connor asked.

"My arm hurts like a bitch. I'm gonna drink until I can't feel it anymore."  
"Is that really a good idea?" Mitch questioned as he put the dish towel in Murphy's mouth.

"Don't tell me how to live my life," I snapped. Connor dug the bullet out of Murphy's leg and then placed the iron against his skin. Murphy let out a yell which, even with the towel in his mouth, was full of cursing. Connor finished up and began bandaging his brother's leg.

"Give me a fuckin beer," Murphy gasped. I smirked and gave him one. Connor shook his head as he began cleaning up the blood.

"You two."

"Oh fuckin' bite me Connor," I snapped. "As soon as you're done the rest of you are going to get drunk too and you know it."

"Aye, she 'as a point," Murphy agreed. "Oh, an' yeh should bite 'er. Maybe it'll teach 'er ta watch 'er mouth." I glared at him and kicked him in the leg.

"Bitch!" he yelped.

"Suck it Murphy."

"Yeh kicked my fucking shot leg!"

"Suck it!"

"I'm goin' ta kill you!"  
"_Suck_._ It_." We stared at each other for a minute before we burst into laughter.


	10. Early Morning Church Shit

_Rocco: "Hey! We gotta talk about this early morning church shit."_

I groaned as Mitch, Becky, and I followed the twins into an old Catholic church.

"Stop yer whinin'," Murphy ordered.

"Why do _we _have to go to church?" I complained. "We told you we don't like going. We haven't gone since we were kids." The last time the three of us had gone we had been thirteen.

"Well yeh haffta go now," Murphy snapped. "Wha' we do, it's not something yeh can get away with if yeh don' go ta church."

"But why?"

"To pray why'd ya think? Our mission comes from God. So we go to church every Sunday an' pay our respects."

"You're so damn Irish," I muttered. Murphy smacked me lightly on the back of the head.

"Watch yer mouth!" He scolded. "We're in a church." I rolled my eyes and followed him and Connor to a pew. The three of us sat down but the twins immediately knelt on the cushioned kneelers. They closed their eyes and began fingering the rosaries they wore around their necks, the same ones they wore whenever they killed someone. The three of us glanced at each other and then knelt with them and closed our eyes. As I child I had never been sure what I was supposed to be praying for when we were told to kneel and pray silently. Whenever I had been told to pray silently I had merely knelt, closed my eyes, and thought about nothing. But I felt like I wouldn't be able to get away with that now. I felt like the twins would know if I was just going through the motions. They wanted me to actually _mean _it and that was going to be difficult. Because to be perfectly honest, I didn't. I believed in what we were doing. And I would agree with it being God's will but more because to me, it was a way of justifying our mission. I didn't feel like God had spoken to me and told me this was what he wanted me to do. I just felt like it was what I was supposed to be doing. But maybe that was God's way of speaking to me, who knows? I had never put much stock in religion.

Mitch, Becky, and I each had a rosary which we had been given as children and we kept them on us at all times out of habit. We took them out now and began fingering them. We murmured the prayers we had been taught as children and as I did, for the first time in my life, I thought of things to pray for. Things that seemed logical given what was going on my life right now. I prayed for our safety, that doing this would not ruin our chances of having families one day. I prayed that, if this was really God's will, we wouldn't get caught. I prayed that our families would never _ever_ find out about our new calling.

I don't know how long we knelt there but at some point the brothers rose to their feet. I had been vaguely aware of what was going on around me. I knew when the other parishioners had stood or sat or knelt but the five of us had remained on our knees through everything. Now, while everyone else was sitting and listening to the homily the five of us stood and walked out into the aisle. We followed the twins up to the altar where there was a large carving of the crucified Jesus. No one in the church seemed to think it strange that we were doing this. It must have been something the brothers had done many times before. The twins knelt before the carving and kissed the feet of Jesus. They stood and without thinking twice, Becky and I moved forward and copied them. After us, Mitch did the same thing. Once he had stood back up the twins turned and led us back down to the front doors and out of the church.

"Dude what the fuck?" I cried as we walked down the steps that led to the sidewalk. "You make us get up at some ungodly hour, drag our asses to church, and then we don't even stay the whole time?"

"Didn' need ta," Murphy replied as he pulled out a cigarette and clamped it between his lips. I felt the childish urge to rip it from his lips, break it in two, and stomp on it repeatedly.

"Well why the hell not?" I demanded instead.

"We came ta pray. We prayed an' now we're done. Time ta go home."

"Go home and do what? It's Sunday, we don't have to work."

"We've got some reconin' ta do."

"Reconin'…?" I repeated, blinking in confusion. "What'd you…oh! You mean recon like, staking a place out? Since when do you call it that? Have you guys been playing games on Mitch's computer again?" Connor and Murphy shook their heads and muttered something about watching too much History channel.

"Call of Duty?" I asked turning to Mitch. Mitch grinned sheepishly.

"Maaaybe," he replied. I snorted.

"More like yes."

"Who's the target?" Becky asked.

"More underbosses," Conner answered. "There's a meetin' tonight."

"How many?"

"Seven or eight," Murphy answered.

"You sure about that?" I replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"O' course I'm sure!"

"Ya said that _last time_," I reminded him. "And you were way off."

"He's sure," Connor said, stopping Murphy from snapping back at me. "I checked meself."

"Okay then. That's all I need to know." I trusted both the twins of course, I had trusted them the moment I had met them, but Murphy was more reckless than Connor. He would rush into a situation whether he knew what he was getting into or not. Connor would think things through; he would double check but not Murphy. I never knew what Murphy was going to do and ever since Becky had almost gotten shot Murphy's recklessness had worried me.

"I told yeh I was sure," Murphy grumbled. I rolled my eyes and ignored him.


End file.
